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Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 28, 2024
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
Legal Matters
Hytera Litigation
On March 14, 2017, the Company filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (the "District Court") against Hytera Communications Corporation Limited of Shenzhen, China; Hytera America, Inc.; and Hytera Communications America (West), Inc. (collectively, "Hytera"), alleging trade secret theft and copyright infringement and seeking, among other things, injunctive relief, compensatory damages and punitive damages. On February 14, 2020, the Company announced that a jury decided in the Company's favor in its trade secret theft and copyright infringement case. In connection with this verdict, the jury awarded the Company $345.8 million in compensatory damages and $418.8 million in punitive damages, for a total of $764.6 million. In a series of post-trial rulings in 2021, the District Court subsequently reduced the judgment to $543.7 million, but also ordered Hytera to pay the Company $51.1 million in pre-judgment interest and $2.6 million in costs, as well as $34.2 million in attorneys fees. The Company continues to seek collection of the judgment through the ongoing legal process.
On December 17, 2020, the District Court held that Hytera must pay the Company a forward-looking reasonable royalty on products that use the Company’s stolen trade secrets, and on December 15, 2021, set royalty rates for Hytera's sale of relevant products from July 1, 2019 forward. On July 5, 2022, the District Court ordered that Hytera pay into a third-party escrow on July 31, 2022, the royalties owed to the Company based on the sale of relevant products from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022. Hytera failed to make the required royalty payment on July 31, 2022. On August 1, 2022, Hytera filed a motion to modify or stay the District Court's previous July 5, 2022 royalty order, which the District Court denied on July 11, 2023. On August 3, 2022, the Company filed a motion seeking to hold Hytera in civil contempt for violating the royalty order by not making the required royalty payment on July 31, 2022. On August 26, 2023, the District Court granted the Company's contempt motion. As a result, on September 1, 2023, Hytera made a payment of $56 million into the third-party escrow. In addition to the September 1, 2023 payment of $56 million, Hytera has made de minimis regular quarterly royalty payments into the third-party escrow from October 2022 through October 2024. The aggregate amount paid into escrow will not be recognized until all contingencies are resolved and such amount is released from escrow.
Following the February 14, 2020 verdict and judgment in the Company's favor, Hytera appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (the "Court of Appeals"), seeking review of the orders related to the jury's verdict as well as the District Court's royalty order. The Company filed its cross-appeal on August 5, 2022. The Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on December 5, 2023, and issued its decision on July 2, 2024. The Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's award of $407.4 million in damages, including exemplary damages, under the Defend Trade Secrets Act. The Court of Appeals also directed the District Court to recalculate and reduce its award of $136.3 million in copyright infringement damages, and instructed the District Court to reconsider its denial of the Company's request for an injunction. In all other respects, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the District Court. On October 4, 2024, the Court of Appeals denied Hytera's motion for rehearing. The case has been remanded to the District Court for further action per the Court of Appeals' decision.
In 2024, the parties engaged in competing litigation in the District Court and a court in Shenzhen, China (originally filed by Hytera in June 2022 and not served upon the Company until November 2023) related to the possible continued use by Hytera of the Company’s trade secrets in Hytera’s currently shipping products. On April 2, 2024, the District Court held Hytera in civil contempt, and issued a worldwide sales injunction of certain Hytera products and a daily fine, for Hytera's failure to withdraw its competing litigation in China. On April 16, 2024, the Court of Appeals granted Hytera's motion for an emergency stay of the contempt sanctions, to allow the Court of Appeals to review the District Court's various orders related to the competing litigation and contempt sanctions. The District Court held hearings on August 26-30, 2024, concerning whether Hytera's currently shipping products continue to misuse the Company's trade secrets and copyrighted source code. The issue is now under consideration by the District Court.