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The original Arm–Qualcomm case ended in a final district-court judgment for Qualcomm and Nuvia after a jury deadlocked on one claim and the judge later ruled Arm had failed to prove harm. Arm appealed; its May 2026 filing said that appeal was pending. A separate lawsuit brought by Qualcomm against Arm is still distinct, with a trial scheduled to begin October 5, 2026, according to Qualcomm’s SEC filing.

What the original Arm–Qualcomm case was about

Arm sued Qualcomm, Qualcomm Technologies and Nuvia in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware in August 2022. The dispute centered on what happened to Nuvia’s Arm Architecture License Agreement (ALA) when Qualcomm acquired Nuvia in 2021.

Arm argued that Nuvia’s license rights did not transfer to Qualcomm and that Arm had terminated the Nuvia ALA in March 2022. Arm sought to enforce the agreement’s termination provisions, including stopping use of and destroying technology developed under that license. Qualcomm disputed Arm’s claims, arguing that its own Arm architecture and technology licenses covered its architected CPU cores and products using technology obtained through Nuvia. These were the parties’ competing contract arguments, not findings that every allegation was true. The court’s September 30, 2025 opinion describes the case and the agreements at issue.

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What the jury decided—and what it did not

The jury trial ran from December 16 through December 20, 2024. Its findings were mixed in a precise sense: Arm did not prove that Qualcomm breached the Nuvia ALA, and Qualcomm proved that its use of Arm code was licensed under Qualcomm’s own ALA. The jury did not reach a verdict on whether Nuvia breached its ALA. That issue was unresolved by the jury, not decided in Nuvia’s favor at trial. The court opinion sets out the verdict.

How the judge ended the original case

On September 30, 2025, Judge Maryellen Noreika denied Arm’s renewed request for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial. She granted Nuvia judgment as a matter of law on Arm’s failure to prove harm, ending the remaining claim without a second trial, and directed entry of final judgment. In addressing Arm’s request for another trial over whether Nuvia breached, the court wrote: “There will be no second trial on that issue, and, therefore, ARM’s motion for a new trial is denied.”

Arm’s Form 20-F, filed May 26, 2026, says Arm appealed the judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and that the appeal was pending at the time of the filing. The district-court judgment should not be confused with the outcome of that appeal. Arm’s 2026 Form 20-F reports the appeal status.

Qualcomm’s separate lawsuit against Arm

Qualcomm brought a separate action against Arm in Delaware in April 2024. It concerns Qualcomm’s allegations that Arm failed to supply deliverables under Qualcomm’s ALA and, in amended claims, issues tied to Arm’s termination notice, alleged interference and competition-related conduct, and the Technology License Agreement. These remain Qualcomm’s allegations; Arm says it disputes them and intends to defend itself. This second suit is not the original Arm-versus-Qualcomm-and-Nuvia case.

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Arm’s May 2026 Form 20-F says Qualcomm’s motion to add Arm Limited to the April 2024 action was denied in January 2026. A separate action against Arm Limited was later consolidated with the April action in March 2026; Qualcomm filed an amended complaint against Arm Limited on March 30, 2026, which Arm moved to strike. Qualcomm’s SEC filing reports a trial start date of October 5, 2026. That is a scheduled date, not a trial that had already taken place as of September 27, 2026. Qualcomm’s SEC filing gives the scheduled date and its account of the litigation; Arm’s filing reports the related procedural steps.

How the two legal tracks differ

Track Who sued whom Main subject Status reported in cited filings
Original case, filed August 2022 Arm sued Qualcomm, Qualcomm Technologies and Nuvia. Whether Nuvia’s ALA rights transferred through Qualcomm’s acquisition, the effect of termination, and whether Qualcomm’s own licenses covered its use of Arm code. Final district-court judgment entered after the jury findings and September 2025 post-trial ruling; Arm’s May 2026 filing says its appeal was pending.
Separate case, filed April 2024 Qualcomm sued Arm; later proceedings also involved Arm Limited. Qualcomm’s allegations about deliverables, termination-related conduct, alleged interference and competition-related conduct, and the Technology License Agreement. Qualcomm’s filing reports trial scheduled to start October 5, 2026; the case had not yet reached that scheduled trial date as of September 27, 2026.

What the ruling means for Arm architecture licenses

Arm licenses its instruction set architecture (ISA), the defined instructions that processor designs implement so compatible software can run on them. The court described Arm’s architecture reference manual as a resource engineers use when designing CPUs. But the case was about the language, scope and termination consequences of particular agreements between these parties—not a general ruling that invalidates Arm’s licensing model or resolves the rights of every Arm licensee. The court’s opinion provides the technical and contractual context.

Why the dispute matters commercially

Arm reported that Qualcomm accounted for 9% of Arm Holdings plc’s total revenue for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026. That figure, disclosed in Arm’s Form 20-F, shows the importance of the commercial relationship; it is not a measure of damages or the value of the disputed licenses. Arm’s filing states the fiscal-year figure.

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How to read each side’s victory claims

After the September 30, 2025 ruling, Qualcomm General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Ann Chaplin said, “With the Court’s decision today, Qualcomm and its subsidiary Nuvia have achieved a full victory.” That is Qualcomm’s characterization of the result, not the court’s wording. The neutral account is narrower: the jury found Qualcomm’s use of Arm code licensed under its own ALA, did not find Qualcomm had breached the Nuvia ALA, and deadlocked on whether Nuvia breached; the judge then ended the remaining claim after Arm failed to prove harm. Qualcomm’s September 30, 2025 release contains Chaplin’s statement, while the court opinion describes the rulings.

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Qualcomm also reported that Arm withdrew an October 2024 notice alleging Qualcomm had breached Qualcomm’s own ALA. In Qualcomm’s account, Arm notified it on January 8, 2025 that it had no current plan to terminate that agreement while reserving its rights pending the litigation. Qualcomm’s SEC filing is the source for this account.

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