RIM Wins Ground in Patent War

ttyp0 writes "The maker of the BlackBerry on Wednesday gained some ground as it fights a battle over patents with NTP, which is trying to shut down most sales and service of the portable e-mail device in the United States. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a final rejection of one of five disputed patents owned by NTP, another step in a long process that Research In Motion Ltd. hopes will allow it to keep operating its U.S. BlackBerry service. NTP, a closely held patent holding company, has successfully sued RIM for infringement of its patents. I've been following the case closely as our company is about to invest in BES, a costly venture indeed."

Comments

From an engineering perspective

[troll -1]

Hasn't this dispute been going on forever? The sad irony is that if you add up all the legal resources consumed by this case and divert them to pure technology you could completely reinvent and develop the entire system.

How does all this help to promote the progress of science and useful arts as set forth in Article I, secition 8 of the US Constitution and for which patents are supposed to have their purpose?

In some perverse way Blackberry's troubles may be a deserved lesson in not adopting an open standard.

Even if Blackberry wins this, they'll eventually be hit with a "hot coffee" musculoskeletal disorder lawsuit.

So what's the answer? More lawyers, less engineers and invertors?

Re:From an engineering perspective

[killjoe]

"Hasn't this dispute been going on forever? The sad irony is that if you add up all the legal resources consumed by this case and divert them to pure technology you could completely reinvent and develop the entire system."

yes but then what would the lawyers do? They need to eat too you know.

Anyway it's called the US legal system. It's the biggest joke in the world. Look at how long the SCO case has been going on. Following that case taught me that the US legal system is a like a hot dog factory. You don't want to know how it works.

Re:RIM litigated first

[Anonymous Coward]

What the hell does that have to do with the merits of the current case? This eye-for-an-eye philosophy will only further complicate the matter intellectual property as it relates to technology.

Why didn't you *simply* ask for clarification about the NTP & RIM history, rather than add noise?

Re:From what I've read of the legal battle

[vertinox]

Any time lawyers make money, it must be good for the economy. i.e.: Class action lawsuits, patent infringements, antitrust cases, etc....

Its not like the lawyers are hording the money.

I mean, think of all those poor hookers that would be out of a job if we didn't have all that litigation money going into the lawyer's pockets. ;)

Re:RIM litigated first

[JohnFluxx]

I don't think it's eye-for-an-eye philosophy, but more of a karma philosophy. Many of us are at least smirking that RIM that lived by the patents dies by the patents, as they say. They tried sue others for stupid IP infringements, and now they are being brought down by another company suing them for stupid IP infringements. If that's not karma, I don't know what is :)

Re:BES cost

[brunes69]

You sound like a marketdroid.

Like a friend of mine said recently on this subject, "I don't care about pushing or pulling as long as it gets me where I am going".

There is useably no difference between a phone that polls every 2-3 minutes and a blackberry. If a message is make-or-break-must-read and two minutes is too long, it probbaly shouldn't have been in an email in the first place.

"Successfully"?

[John Hasler]

> NTP, a closely held patent holding company, has successfully sued
> RIM for infringement of its patents.

"successfully sued" inplies that they have won something. They have not. All that they have succeeded in doing so far is filing, which anyone with the cash for the filing fees can do. Tomorrow is the hearing on their motion for a preliminary injunction. There is an excellent chance that it will be denied.