BlackBerry Awarded $815 Million in Arbitration Case Against Qualcomm (cnbc.com) 22
BlackBerry, the former smartphone maker, was awarded $814.9m in an arbitration decision against Qualcomm over a dispute relating to royalty payments. The two companies entered into arbitration talks in February about Qualcomm's "agreement to cap certain royalties applied to payments made by BlackBerry under a license agreement between the parties," BlackBerry said in a statement. From a report: BlackBerry argued that it was overpaying Qualcomm in royalty payments. Last April, BlackBerry and Qualcomm entered discussions to settle the dispute and analyze an existing "agreement to cap certain royalties applied to payments made by BlackBerry under a license agreement between the two parties." Despite the dispute, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said Wednesday that the companies "continue to be valued technology partners." He said BlackBerry will continue to collaborate with Qualcomm, specifically for security in the auto industry and in application-specific integrated circuits.
So... (Score:1, Troll)
So, much as some of us suspected, BB's future is going to be in IP lawsuits.
Re:So... (Score:5, Insightful)
It was not 'an IP lawsuit', it was a suit about overpayments.
Re: (Score:2)
It was a royalty overpayment suit, hence an IP suit.
Re:So... (Score:4)
Now, since BB barely sells actual products anymore; this big exciting payout is likely to be hard to repeat; and then they'll come out trolling; but this specific case against Qualcomm looks like part of the general industry backlash against the exciting business of cellular modem patents. Qualcomm has had some antitrust trouble in multiple venues, is in court with several customers, and generally seems to have made themselves unpopular of late.
Remember kids... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
BlackBerry said Wednesday it has been awarded a preliminary $814.9 million in royalty overpayments made to Qualcomm.
If so it's a novel approach to being a patent troll, pay a company too much for their patents and then get some of it back... I wish more trolls would be so foolish.
Methinks the troll descriptor doesn't apply in this case. If there's any patent trolling involved it was Qualcomm overcharging for theirs. But overall it just sounds like the sort of thing that happens between two companies legit
Re: (Score:2)
Methinks the troll descriptor doesn't apply in this case.
The last thing I read about BlackBerry was that were becoming a patent troll company. Then again, they did come out with a new keyboard phone, Blackberry KEYone, that looks interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFCAU0Y0jzc [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Read the article before spitting out stupidities.
This is Slashdot. You must be new around here.
Re: (Score:2)
This case isn't about BB's patents(except in that access to some of them, in lieu of cash, might have been part of the royalties paid to Qualcomm); but you wouldn't have much of a royalties fight without some patents involved(in this industry; were these book publishers or authors, 'royalties' would imply copyrights; but aside from baseband code and drivers of very dubious quality, Qualcomm's IP reserves are largely patents).
Re: Remember kids... (Score:2)
You pay royalties on patents you're using to build and sell stuff. Is building and selling stuff using technoligy you're licensing patent trolling? The mental gymnastics required ....
Re: (Score:2)
ummm, i had underestimated the power of ignorance.
Re: (Score:2)
ummm, i had underestimated the power of ignorance.
This is Slashdot. You must be new around here.
Just In Time (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
its nice to see them on the + side for once :)
Blackberry Who? (Score:1)
Oh! Aren't they that company that completely pissed away their complete ownership of the mobile market by refusing to remain relevant?
22 comments in 24 hours (Score:2)