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Governments Take Sides In Blackberry Patent Suit

Posted by timothy on from the please-don't-call-it-a-free-market dept.

geekboy_x writes "The recent court decision giving NTP a big chunk of Research In Motion's Blackberry profits has attracted an unusal participant - the government of Canada. The original ruling, where RIM was judged to have violated 5 of NTP's patents, has now been stayed pending appeal, and the Canadian government has filed a motion in the U.S. court to request a full re-hearing. At stake is not only money, but the rights to sell and service any Blackberry-like product."

4 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Canadian Government... by Caydel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Obviously the Canadian government has an interest in this, as it is one of the leading canadian technologies; however, this seems to be quite a large step for them. They usually seem to pussyfoot around such issues, especially when dealing with the US...

    1. Re:Canadian Government... by rborek · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The issue isn't with RIM per se, but the fact that the US courts are trying to apply US patent laws to systems physically located in Canada - which should fall under Canadian patent law. If the US courts uphold this, it will present a huge barrier to Canadian (or for that matter, any other countries) companies entering the US in any way (including sales and support to US companies from Canada), as a US company that holds a patent will be able to sue the Canadian company for using their patent in Canada to supply technology, services, etc. to US entities.

    2. Re:Canadian Government... by mzwaterski · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I don't see how you could have this fall any other way. Lets assume for the sake of discussion that NTP does own these patents and that the Blackberry does infringe them. Why should a company from Canada be able to come to the US and start selling a product that is infringing a US patent. The minute their products crossed the border, they became subject to US laws. Of course, they are free to make and sell what they want in Canada, and this lawsuit does not interfere with that. In fact, as the article points out "In August 2003, a U.S. court awarded NTP $53.7 million in damages and an 8.6 per cent royalty on all the revenue from U.S. BlackBerry sales." I.E. none of the sales in Canada are at issue.

      I guess I don't see how this could fall any other way. Think about what would happen if international companies were allowed to make an infringing product then ship it across the border and start selling it. Why should I invent something if I could just move to Canada, wait for someone else to invent it and perfect it, then copy their idea and start selling it myself. Heck, while I'm at it I will even use their name and logo.

  2. Re:Blackberry-like product by JWG · · Score: 5, Informative

    If I am not mistaken (and I frequently am) the patent at the centre of this is about how the Blackberry uses the cellphone network to access mail, etc. Although a Blackberry uses the cell phone system to check email constantly, it uses a different communication protocol than what a regular cell phone does, and accesses a different type of communication system from that point on. It is somewhere in between there where the patent at issue rests. Someone, somewhere, at some time dreamed this idea up in the States, got a patent for it (although they never actually made anything) and then formed a company whose sole purpose was litigate to generate revenue, meanwhile, in Canada at roughly a the same time, RIM developed this into a working idea first, then started patenting it.