Supreme Court Rejects BlackBerry Appeal http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/23/AR2006012300 512_pf.html
By Yuki Noguchi Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 23, 2006; 1:00 PM The Supreme Court today rejected a petition from BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. for a rehearing of its patent-infringement case. The Canadian maker of the popular wireless e-mail device has been locked in litigation against NTP Inc., a McLean-based patent-holding company that holds the licenses for the technology. RIM may face a court-ordered shut down of most of its 4 million BlackBerrys in the United States if it cannot settle its case with NTP. The company has said, however, that is developing a technological work-around that skirts the patent infringement. RIM has also asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to review NTP's patents with the hopes that they would be declared invalid. In 2002, a jury found RIM violated several key NTP patents and ordered it to pay royalties, which as of November had accrued to more than $250 million. "The Supreme Court's denial closed the final path for RIM to avoid liability," NTP said in a statement today. NTP is an investor in RIM competitor Good Technology Inc., and has licensing agreements with other wireless e-mail companies, such as Nokia Corp. and Visto Inc. A spokesman for RIM played down the significance of today's ruling. "RIM has consistently acknowledged that Supreme Court review is granted in only a small percentage of cases and we were not banking on Supreme Court review," marketing vice president Mark Guibert said in a statement. "The Patent Office continues its reexaminations with special dispatch, RIM's legal arguments for the District Court remain strong and our software work-around designs remain a solid contingency." © 2006 The Washington Post Company You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
