Canadian Blackberry wireless e-mail provider (Research in Motion Ltd) RIM
was dealt another blow in its patent battle with US company NTP Inc yesterday
when the US Supreme Court refused an emergency application for a halt to proceedings
pending the Court's decision on whether to hear its case.
A week ago, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had denied RIM's
motion to stay further proceedings in the case until the Supreme Court decides
whether it will accept an appeal of its decision in the case, and remanded the
case to the District Court for further proceedings based on the Federal Circuit's
decision of August 2, 2005.
RIM said it feared that NTP will imminently file a new motion asking the District
Court to reinstate an injunction prohibiting RIM from providing BlackBerry service
and from using, selling, manufacturing or importing its handhelds and software
in the United States. RIM maintains that an injunction is inappropriate given
the facts of the case and substantial doubts raised subsequent to trial as to
the validity of the patents in question.
After the Supreme Court decision, RIM said it will continue to seek an appeal
of the case in the top court, but this decision won't come for a few months,
and it is thought unlikely that the Court will hear the appeal.
It is assumed that RIM will seek to have the District Court enforce a preliminary
settlement that RIM and NTP announced in March, but later suspended for reasons
that are unclear. RIM had agreed to pay $450 million to NTP. Shares in RIM initially
sank, but later recovered since it is generally supposed that the parties will
manage to reach an agreement.