BlackBerry Case Should Have Been Settled, Says Judge

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

27 February 2006

In the RIM/NTP Blackberry spat, Federal District Court Judge James R. Spencer last week held off reinstating an injunction against RIM but told the parties that they are wrong not to have settled the case.

The long-running dispute over ownership of the e-mail 'push' technology contained in Research in Motion's BlackBerry devices had seen Judge Spencer impose an injunction and financial penalties on RIM, but the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated the awards and remitted the case to Judge Spencer's court for further proceedings in 2005.

During 2005, the parties did agree a $450m settlement, but this was not finalized, and Judge Spencer ruled against enforcing it. Then, late last year, NTP reportedly said it would accept a payment equal to 5.7% of BlackBerry's expected revenue in the US until 2012, when its patents expire, which would add up to $900m according to market analysts.

Meanwhile, the Patent Office has been reviewing NTP's patent claims, and has rejected them in its initial rulings in reexamination proceedings, based in part on prior art not considered in the District Court trial in 2002; but it will be some time yet before the Patent Office issues final rejections.

Last week, Judge Spencer admonished RIM for providing inconsistent arguments against re-imposition of the dreaded injunction, and said that the parties had left 'incredibly important' decision to the court.

Judge Spencer is expected to rule in the next few weeks on re-imposition of the injunction, perhaps with different terms, and on the level of financial penalties to be paid by RIM.

RIM says that it has developed and tested software workaround designs for all BlackBerry handsets operating on converged voice/data networks in the United States.

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