Four Decades for Justice
On July 23, 2008, the first day of trial in Chancery Court in Wilmington, Delaware, Qualcomm Inc. and Nokia Corp. entered into a settlement agreement that ended the Delaware lawsuit and resolved all litigation between the parties around the world. As part of the settlement, Qualcomm and Nokia have agreed to a landmark license agreement covering multiple technologies and extending until 2022. Nokia also agreed to withdraw its competition complaint pending before the European Commission. Cravath defended Qualcomm in an action brought by Nokia Corp., alleging that Qualcomm breached its undertaking to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to be prepared to license Qualcomm’s patents essential to the GSM and UMTS wireless standards on “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” (FRAND) terms. The new license agreement includes an up-front payment to Qualcomm, and running royalties through 2022 on products practicing a number of standards, including CDMA2000, UMTS, and so-called “4G” technologies including OFDM, WiMAX and LTE. In addition, Nokia agreed not to assert any of its patents directly against Qualcomm, enabling Qualcomm to integrate Nokia’s technology into Qualcomm’s chipsets. Nokia also transferred a significant portfolio of patents to Qualcomm, including patents declared as essential to standards including GSM, SCDMA and OFDMA.
The lawyers involved were partners Evan R. Chesler, Roger G. Brooks, Darin P. McAtee and Richard J. Stark, associates Richard Corey Worcester, James G. Hein, Rajeev K. Adlakha, Jessica L. Selb, Jennifer E. Sturiale, Emily O. Famutimi, Jeffrey G. Paik, Jared B. Shirck, Sarah E. Trombley, Pierre J. Bouchard, Dashene A. Cooper, Andrej Lang and Sarita Prabhu, senior discovery attorney Paget Gross and discovery attorneys Thomas M. Gorman and Heather C. Sivert.
Deals & Cases
September 29, 2023
On September 26, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted summary judgment in favor of Cravath client Qualcomm Incorporated in a putative class action alleging violations of antitrust laws. Originally brought in 2017 on behalf of an alleged nationwide class of mobile device purchaser plaintiffs, the multi-district litigation consolidated numerous complaints against Qualcomm and followed a related Federal Trade Commission action against the company (FTC v. Qualcomm), which also resulted in a complete judgment for Qualcomm on appeal in 2020.
Deals & Cases
May 23, 2022
Cravath represented Qualcomm Incorporated in connection with its $1.5 billion registered notes offering. Qualcomm is a global leader in the development and commercialization of foundation technologies and products used in mobile devices and other wireless products. The transaction closed on May 9, 2022.
Deals & Cases
June 16, 2017
On June 16, 2017, the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed a stockholder derivative lawsuit brought against current and former directors and officers of Qualcomm Incorporated alleging, among other claims, that defendants breached their fiduciary duties by allegedly failing to prevent purported FCPA violations by the company. In granting the dismissal, Vice Chancellor Tamika R. Montgomery‑Reeves held that the complaint did not plead sufficient facts to infer that the individual defendants had acted in bad faith or that the directors faced a substantial likelihood of personal liability such that plaintiffs’ failure to make a demand on the board to bring a suit was excused.
Deals & Cases
September 08, 2011
On September 6, 2011, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation granted Cravath client Qualcomm Inc.’s request to centralize 11 lawsuits over PJC Logistics LLC’s vehicle tracking patent in Minnesota Federal Court. PJC alleged that certain mobile fleet management products manufactured by Qualcomm, and installed on hundreds of thousands of trucks and other vehicles, infringe U.S. Patent No. 5,223,844. In March 2011, PJC brought actions in nine district courts against hundreds of customers of fleet management products. In April 2011, Qualcomm filed a declaratory judgment action in the District of Minnesota alleging that the patent is invalid and not infringed by Qualcomm’s products. PJC subsequently filed additional infringement actions against Qualcomm and other suppliers of allegedly infringing fleet management systems in Texas. Qualcomm moved the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to transfer all the actions to the District of Minnesota for coordinated pre-trial proceedings. After oral argument in July 2011, Qualcomm’s motion was granted.
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