RIM Loses NTP Case, To Pay $53 Million

theodp writes "A judge has ruled in favor of holding company NTP in its patent-infringement case against BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, awarding monetary damages and fees of $53.7 million and granting an injunction preventing RIM from making, using, or offering to sell handhelds, services or software in the U.S. until the date of expiration of NTP's patents, the latest of which is May 20, 2012. The court then stayed that injunction, pending an appeal by the Canadian company."

Comments

Well

[Shaklee39]

This verdict is quite a blow to Research In Motion, but an injunction against RIM to stop selling the BlackBerry would be devastating. I have to agree with Balsillie in his assessment that an injunction of that magnitude would be unlikely. The US$23.1 million dollar settlement could also be overturned in February. After all, anything can happen in a jury trial, and it is really not until an appellate court gets the case that the legality of NTP's claim is truly measured.

I am sure that Handspring and Good Technology, companies that have felt RIM's legal wrath in the past, are happy to see RIM get a little taste of its own medicine. An interesting thing to note about NTP is that it has no commercial operations at all. It is simply a holding company that has the patents. Needless to say, owning and defending patents could easily be a source of revenue for a company. As it relates to this case it seems that type of business structure may be profitable.

Sweet!

[shepd]

RIM finally reaps what they sowed.

Surprised

[PktLoss]

I think that recent conversations about patents and such talk about how foolish patents like this are: infringed on its patents covering the use of radio frequency wireless communications in e-mail systems.

I really dont think logical next steps should be patentable. I would like to patent using nano technology to make monitors as easy to read as print, or, using light below the visible spectrum to read optical information at even smaller wavelengths, or...

Besides, I think that RIM has really done a lot to immprove the state of communications in large corporations

I have been working a patent for 3 years now

[wukie]

But my patent actually does something.

Email over wireless sounds WAY too broad to me. I hope RIM finds markets outside of the US where approval of patents on the grounds of "non-obvious" and "inventiveness" is much stricter.

While I consider RIM a competitor to what I'm doing, I wish them all the best, as they have some very fine products.

sure, they violated the patent

[73939133]

If the jury was asked whether RIM violated the patent, they probably made the right decision in saying that they did.

But that's because NTP's patent is ridiculous. Who are they going to go after next? TabletPC users who happen to use a wireless connection? People who read E-mail through a handheld connected to their cell phone?

RIM is right in having this patent re-examined. Now, I think RIM itself is a thoroughly disgusting company when it comes to stupid patents and that if this infringement claim holds up it would be poetic justice. But that is little satisfaction in the long term: if these kinds of patents hold up in court, it is bad for the industry.

Patent squatting

[xixax]

An interesting thing to note about NTP is that it has no commercial operations at all. It is simply a holding company that has the patents. Needless to say, owning and defending patents could easily be a source of revenue for a company. As it relates to this case it seems that type of business structure may be profitable.

The rise of these sorts of companies demonstrate that the current patent system no-longer meets the constitution's stated objective of encouraging innovation (which is why patents are supposed to exist). What we are getting now is a legislated monopoly.

Xix.