Qualcomm Inc. has vowed to appeal U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh’s ruling last week that it unfairly used its market power over CDMA and premium 4G LTE modem chips to extract supracompetitive royalties from smartphone makers and their manufacturers.

But getting a decision from the Ninth Circuit could take years. In the meantime, Qualcomm needs to get Koh’s sweeping injunction—which requires it to renegotiate all of its licenses and offer FRAND rates to chip-making competitors—put on hold.