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RIM Announces Workaround in NTP Case
Justin Michael writes "RIM announces they have a software solution in the event that the courts rules in favor of NTP. The fix is called their multi-mode edition. Customers are being told that they do not need to take action yet, but would need to install the multi-mode edition on both servers and handhelds." A Reuters article also covers the announcement. From that article: "The company said it will soon begin shipping handsets with the software update in a dormant mode. It will make the update available at www.blackberry.com/workaround at a later, but as yet unspecified, date. RIM said the changes would require software updates, but the new system will deliver the same functions and performance."
Just when you thought you were safe, another patent was approved:
Patent 6666666:
Title: WEW (Wireless Email Workaround)
Abstract: A method of using wireless email in another fashion different than the original infringing one.
What is claimed:
1. Send Email Differently
2. The method of claim (1) used to "workaround" another method.
This one is so generic it must be airtight.
Proof by very large bribes. QED.
I guess their employees won't be losing their RIM jobs after all.
Don't worry, we are already working on a workaround to the workaround, it is tenatively called 'Circle Work'
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Maybe i'm wrong, but i could have sworn they (RIM) came out with this information several weeks ago...
Does anyone else remember seeing this elsewhere?
RIM said the changes would require software updates, but the new system will deliver the same functions and performance.
If that's the case, why haven't they switched already?
www.timcoleman.com is a total waste of your time. Never go there.
I was really hoping that this patent dispute would destroy the company -- not because I don't like RIM, but because it'll take something that drastic to get the government's head out of it's ass and notice how fucked up our patent situation is.
Sigh -- I guess we'll just continue on riding the status quo to oblivion, then...
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Until RIM crushes those patent trolls. Without giving them a dime.
The algorithm does NOT multiply by 2, as stated in the patent. It multiplies by 3, and then substracts the original! As you can see, it's A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ALGORITHM!
That's not what they're saying, though. They're saying that your car's engine might stop working, but if it does they'll replace it immediately, at no cost to you, with practically no effort on your end, with an engine that is guaranteed to not suffer the same problems. That doesn't seem so bad, especially when the original engine's dying is the fault of a stupid patent system.
Sorry, I just patented the Workaround(tm) last week.
No effort? How is updating every Blackberry Enterprise Server and every Blackberry handheld little or no effort? I guess you have never worked in IT because I can tell you having a forced, unplanned upgrade to a major "mission critical" system like the crackberry network is not going to be easy or fun.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
RIM's other markets were never at risk. RIM isn't even based in the US anyhow. They're based in Waterloo, Canada, IIRC. And we don't seem to have as broken a patent system as the US does.
The "article" seems to indicate that the changes are to the backend only, and absolutely nothing will change for the user. Everything is identical in the GUI and usage. So this should be a kick in the pants for NTP. NTP now has two options:
1) Settle for a paltry amount, far less than what they could have accepted before.
2) Press forward to get an injunction, and have the case die when RIM uses the workaround, without NTP seeing a dime.
All of NTP's patents (All of them now) have now been invalidated (at least preliminarily), and even if NTP succeeds in getting an injunction, those invalid patents won't even apply anymore. NTP doesn't exactly have a strong case anymore, and they have to know it.
Of course, NTP didn't stop when the US government stepped in to warn that an injunction would compromise the nation's security, so I'm pretty sure they fall into the evil-but-stupid category that is too both too evil to abandon the case, and too stupid to realize it is a lost cause.
It would be awesome if RIM could not only beat NTP on the patent issue, but go back at them and sue for damage done to their image and stock.
I bet the guys at NTP are slapping their forehead, saying "DOH!", and thinking
'Ya know.. we probably should have settled for boatloads of money when he had
the chance'.
I think you are missing the point. NTP is trying to claim that they are due money because they hold a piece of paper that says that they were doing it first. The problem is, NTP doesn't do anything but hold pieces of paper.
RIM is saying, "We don't owe you anything. You should never have received those pieces of paper, and we will make sure that the issuer investigates the matter."
The USPTO is invalidating the patents left and right. If (and likely when) the patents are all gone, NTP won't have a leg to stand on. I wonder anyone will sue NTP at that point for extortion due to the "licenses" that other companies purchased.
The main reason RIM lost the original case is because they created false evidence to try to demonstrate prior art. However, they were caught trying to pull this off in the courtroom. Nothing says "I'm breaking the law and trying to get away with it" like perjury.
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
Not so. RIM never settled because the claims NTP has against them are bullshit.
I'm actually quite impressed that they didn't roll over and just cut NTP a check to make them go away, as I'm sure a lot of companies (and people) would be wont to do.
RIM has played the game very well. The only criticism I've heard of them at all is that, in the past, they were quite aggressive in using their own patents to keep other people out of the portable-email market, so to a certain extent they're getting bitten in the ass by their own tactics. But at least when they were using their patents, they at least were protecting a market; NTP is just doing the corporate equivalent of a mugging.
However, I have far more respect for them now, given that they've refused to settle and really showed some balls, than I would if they had just let the bunch of shyster lawyers that is NTP (you did know that NTP is just a front set up by an attorney, right?) bleed them for several million bucks.
Given the "marriages of convenience" that we've been seeing recently in the tech sector -- where it seems a whole lot of companies are willing to get in bed with anyone, including the Chinese government and our own (and at the same time, no less), if it makes them a few bucks -- I find it refreshing that RIM didn't just settle.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Right, what assholes. Who do they think they are, demanding their day in court and all? Believing they are innocent until proven guilty? Refusing to pay the required bribe to the company trying to use a submarine patent on them.
I mean, hey, that's the corrupt system we live under, and they should just have gone along with it.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Am I the only one who eagerly opened up this thread to see how this relates to the Network Time Protocol?
I went -1 and searched for it in vain. I for one am seriously tired of these new jack-ass companies starting to recycle already well established TLAs. What's next? "Sony faces TCP inc. in court over patent infringement"?
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