Qualcomm said on Wednesday it was asked to refund BlackBerry$814.9 million in an arbitration over royalties for certain past sales.
A binding interim arbitration award required Qualcomm to refund a sum of $814.9 million, plus interest and attorneys' fees. The parties had agreed to arbitrate a contract dispute relating to one specific issue: whether Qualcomm's voluntary per unit royalty cap program applied to BlackBerry's non-refundable prepayments of royalties for sales of a specified number of subscriber units from 2010 through the end of 2015.
Qualcomm does not agree with the decision, which is binding and not appealable. "The arbitration decision was limited to prepayment provisions unique to BlackBerry's license agreement with Qualcomm and has no impact on agreements with any other licensee," Qualcomm said.
Qualcomm is also fighting a lawsuit filed by Apple, which has accused the company of overcharging for chips and refusing to pay some $1 billion in promised rebates.
The U.S. government has accused Qualcomm of resorting to anticompetitive tactics to maintain a monopoly over key semiconductors used in mobile phones.