Qualcomm, to no one's surprise, says it "does not agree with the decision." However, arbitration means there's no appeal here. As such, the company could easily end up shelling out billions of dollars for its licensing practices, which allegedly include everything from demanding excessive payments (BlackBerry's claim) to charging patent royalties for unrelated tech (as Apple maintains).

And to call this win for BlackBerry would be an understatement. While the Canadian tech company is slowly turning around its fortunes after getting out of phone design, it made a total of $286 million in revenue last quarter -- $814.9 million could cover most of the money it makes in a year. Although the payout ultimately stems from a failure to compete in the smartphone industry, it gives BlackBerry a huge amount of breathing room as it shifts its focus toward automotive tech and corporate software.