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RIM Wins Ground in Patent War

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the fire-in-the-hole dept.

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."

5 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Re:BES cost by azcoffeehabit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Another option is to use the Exchange mobile services and run your own messaging servers that way, nice thing is that it ties directly into your corporate messaging and keeps your emails on your servers. This option also gives you a wider range of devices that you can use (and probably even your existing cell phones if they were made anytime in the last 2 years).

    Now if someone knows about a Linux solution it would make the setup even sweeter. :)

    --
    :)(smile)
  2. Where's the beef? by thunderlizard · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There isn't much news to this story -- and the submitter quoted close to half of the article in their summary...

    This really isn't great news for the Blackberry, because RIM has already lost the original suit from NTP -- and as the article states, it could take *years* for the validity of the remaining 4 patents to be finalized... NTP could drag this process out in court for quite some time, all the while putting pressure on RIM or possibly finding a judge that will grant some type of injunction.

    Sometimes it doesn't matter if you're right; it matters more if you're around for the long haul. After all, what's the use of being an excellent boxer if you can't last past 3 rounds?

    NTP has the edge here...

  3. RIM litigated first by augustz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    RIM started this whole intellectual property mess. Some of you remember them making lots of noise about protecting their IP against all the scummy folks who were using it.

    Of course, as with all things software patent related, it turns out that others had also patented similar things. And whamo, their story changes.

    Anyone have the details of this history? It's something that seems to have been forgotten in this story. I know RIM sued at least Handspring and Good, but I'm really curious about the threats of litigation that got NTP to go after them.

    Instead of RIM threatened by bogus patents, this story could very well be company that litigated others out of the market faces own medicine.

    I don't remember this well enough though, someone has got to have the history in a better format. All I remember is that RIM was running around talking about patents from way way back.

  4. Maybe we should hope that RIM loses... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I mean, think about it: All those high and mighty people suddenly without their devices.

    Who knows, maybe this will mean the patent system gets (at least partially) fixed.

  5. Re:BES cost by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The difference between push and polling is battery use on the handheld. Push increases battery life, which is always welcome.