Quick Note: After nearly a year of procedural delay, Arm is finally free to move its case against Qualcomm into the appellate stage.
Arm was procedurally frozen following the December 2024 jury verdict. The jury had found in Qualcomm’s favor on two counts, but deadlocked on whether Nuvia breached its Arm license — a central issue at the heart of the dispute. Arm could not appeal until the district court entered final judgment, which only came on September 30, 2025. That delay prolonged uncertainty and left the case shielded from appellate review. The September 30 judgment was not a new “win” for Qualcomm — that happened last year with the jury verdict. Instead, the judgment simply formalized the outcome and, in fact, benefits Arm by finally clearing the way to pursue an appeal.
Arm’s appeal will hinge on two key arguments:
License interpretation. Arm argues the court misread Qualcomm’s ALA as covering Nuvia CPU designs even after Arm terminated Nuvia’s license — a pure legal issue that will be reviewed de novo on appeal.
Jury deadlock improperly resolved. The jury deadlocked on whether Nuvia breached its license. Instead of retrying that claim, the judge entered judgment for Qualcomm, effectively deciding a factual question herself. A hung jury is the clearest evidence reasonable minds could differ, and appellate courts are sensitive to a judge stepping into the jury’s role.
The linkage between these two issues strengthens Arm’s case: the deadlock on breach was tied to the very license scope issue the jury did decide. That unresolved question, and the judge’s decision to resolve it unilaterally, gives Arm meaningful grounds to push for the decision to be overturned and sent back for a new trial.
The bottom line: Arm is now at the stage it has been waiting for — the appeal process, where it can challenge both the contract interpretation and the handling of the jury deadlock before the Third Circuit.