Patent Office “Heads Up” on Decision re. RIM/NTP Patents December 21, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , add a commentU.S. Patent Office Likely to Back BlackBerry Maker – New York Times
The technology patents at the heart of an infringement lawsuit by NTP against Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry wireless e-mail device, are likely to be struck down by the United States patent office, both companies said on Monday, a move that would be a setback for NTP.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office took the unusual step of notifying the companies that it expected to reject the five patents held by NTP in its final rulings.
The office has issued preliminary rejections of all five wireless e-mail patents in the past. The final rulings may come by mid-February, earlier than expected.
“The patent owner’s arguments are deemed nonpersuasive,” said the patent office document, which was received last week but dated Nov. 30. “The next office action is expected to be a final rejection of all current claims.”
Good news for Blackberry users. Of course, we need to keep an eye on what happens in the lawsuit separately, but it’s pretty hard to say “they infringed our patents”, if those patents are ruled invalid by the USPTO…
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
Another Patent Rejected in the RIM/NTP Battle December 16, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , 1 comment so farFrom Blackberry Cool:
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a second NTP Inc. patent in what it described as a non-final action. The patent, 5,625,670, is one of five at the center of the long-running patent dispute between NTP and Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry wireless handheld device. It’s the second time in a matter of weeks that the PTO has issued a “non-final” rejection of an NTP patent.
Another step in the right direction.
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
RIM-NTP Lawsuit – The Timeline December 15, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , 1 comment so far(You can find an updated version of this timeline here)
I was consolidating some notes on the various things that have happened in this lawsuit, starting out with a post I linked to earlier, the Mobile Enteprise Weblog, and adding in some other events.
I ended up with this timeline:
Click on it to see it somewhat more readable.
Rest of my posts on RIM, Blackberry’s and the NTP lawsuit elsewhere on this site.
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
RIM/NTP Lawsuit – Blackberry Shutdown? December 2, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , add a commentThe folks at Blackberry Cool have this most succinctly in their post titled “Calm Down Folks, No Possibility of Blackberry Shutdown”.
I don’t know if I’d go so far as “no possibility”, because there’s always an outside chance, and strange things have happened in the world of litigation before, but generally speaking, I agree with them – that’s why we haven’t gone any further at my company with our contingency plans, which involved the Windows Mobile 5.0 devices. In the post above, they say:
Our prediction is that RIM and NTP will settle for a huge amount, possibly in the 1 billion range so that both parties can move on from the case that has latest for 5 years.
I think they’re right – the only variable is going to be the number. Will this affect RIM long-term – yes, how can it not? Right out of the gate, that’s a lot of cash to pay out. But in the longer-term, will it make them want to innovate, compete, and maintain their market share? Again – how can it not? I have to admit that I’m looking forward to the end of this dispute, and everyone getting back to the business of technology, instead of the business of law.
Related Links Around The Web:
Michael Sampson – Thoughts on RIM vs NTP
Mobile Enterprise Weblog – The biggest story for enterprise mobility in 2005
Mobile Enterprise Weblog – RIM: The Buzzards Are Watching (timeline of events)
Patently-O: Patent Law Blog – Blackberry Patent Settlement Found Unenforceable (includes links to the court documents)
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
New Category – Blackberry December 2, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology, Uncategorized , add a commentI’ve added “Blackberry” as a sub-category to “Technology”, as I seem to be writing about it regularly. I’m going to go back and update previous posts to reflect this category, in addition to “Technology”. Hopefully, that won’t push those back out to the RSS feed – sorry if it means you get dupes; it’s just a one-off correction.
RIM, NTP and Lawsuits – More News November 30, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , add a commentThe “Blackberry Cool” folks have a piece here about the continuing legal troubles the Blackberry folks are facing.
Research In Motion Ltd., facing litigation that may halt its BlackBerry e-mail service in the U.S., is this week fighting a case to protect the technology in Britain. Luxembourg-based Inpro Licensing Sarl is suing Research In Motion at a London court for allegedly infringing a U.K. patent it holds relating to the relay of data between BlackBerry phones and pagers and the Internet.
If Research In Motion loses the case, it may force the Waterloo, Canada-based company and partners such as T-Mobile International AG to stop selling or supporting the devices in Britain, according to lawyers acting on the case. Research in Motion has around 375,000 BlackBerry subscribers in the U.K., around 10 percent of its global total.
But the hits just keep on coming…
U.S. District Judge James Spencer has rejected RIM’s request to delay the case and refused to enforce a previously negotiated, and then disputed, $450 million settlement with patent holder NTP Inc. He’s going to set a date to hear NTP’s request for damages, and more importantly (from a Blackberry user’s perspective) to work through the injunction request that would halt Blackberry services in the USA.
NTP’s lawyers have said that they hope these developments will bring both parties back to the negotiation/settlement table. We can but hope.
RIM has issued a press release on the matter.
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
RIM/NTP Lawsuit – RIM “Workaround” November 20, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , add a commenthttp://www.blackberrycool.com/2005/11/17/001090/
Users of the popular BlackBerry wireless device will not lose their service if maker Research In Motion Ltd. is hit with an injunction in a U.S. court case, a top RIM executive said on Wednesday. RIM Co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said the company recently completed a software upgrade that it may deploy in a bid to work around the patents involved in its legal dispute with NTP Inc.
“We’re endeavoring to plan for every scenario,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the UBS Global Communications conference inNew York. “Our customers can be calm that there won’t be an interruption of service.”
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
Monitoring The NTP/RIM Lawsuit November 11, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , add a comment(Update: My latest post on the NTP/RIM lawsuit, and see the “Blackberry” tag under “Categories” over on the right for other posts). My timeline of the NTP/RIM lawsuit is online as well.
From Canada’s “National Post”:
The U.S. government waded into the high-stakes legal battle between Research In Motion Ltd. and patent collector NTP Inc. yesterday, saying a possible U.S. ban of the popular BlackBerry wireless e-mail device could put essential government services in jeopardy.
“The injunction would literally prevent RIM from providing the services that would be essential for the federal government, as well as state and local governments, to continue their use of the BlackBerry devices,” the U.S. Department of Justice stated in a court filing.
The government department wants 90 days notice before a U.S. trial court enforces the potentially crippling injunction on BlackBerry devices in the United States to ensure public workers can keep using the devices
With a couple hundred Blackberry users at the company I’m at – including myself – I’m obviously “somewhat interested” in this lawsuit. I live by my Blackberry – it’s my phone, my PDA, where I make notes to myself when I think of things, what I use to browse news websites when I’m killing time but not at a computer. It’s a core component of my personal implementation of David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology. If NTP prevails in this, it ain’t going to be pretty. Corporately, yes, we could move to Windows Mobile – we have all the infrastructure in place. Personally though, having been a PDA user for a while, starting with Windows CE Pocket, then CE Handheld, jumping ship to a Psion and then a Palm Vx, before succumbing to a HP iPaq, and then abandoning THAT and moving back to paper, before finally getting a Blackberry – the Blackberry to me is everything I need in a communications package, and it “just works”.
Back to the article:
The U.S. government also said the extra time is necessary so the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office can reconsider the validity of wireless e-mail patents held by NTP. The Patent Office has already overturned the five disputed patents filed by since-deceased inventor Thomas Campana Jr., although NTP has asked the patent office to reconsider its decision.
Good. I’m not going to get into a political debate on patents here; I’m just glad that the PTO seems to be siding with RIM so far.
Incidentally, NTP had previously agreed to a $450 million settlement fee. That deal fell apart with disagreement on the settlement terms. Guys? That’s a hell of a lot of money. Take it, and let us get back to working with our Crackberry’s, eh?
technorati tags: Blackberry
