RIM Loses Patent Infringement Appeal

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

16 December 2004

Ruling on Tuesday, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit supported claims made by NTP Inc. that Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry wireless e-mail devices infringe on its patented e-mail 'push' technology.

The appeals court ruling supported the verdict delivered by a lower court, which also felt that the function in BlackBerry devices which automatically receives and displays new e-mail messages without any prompting from the end user represented an infringement of NTP's intellectual property.

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against RIM in 11 of the 16 claims made by NTP, but vacated an injunction imposed by the lower court against selling the BlackBerry devices in the United States, remanding the case to the district court for further proceedings.

Although RIM has welcomed the fact that the injunction was vacated, NTP has suggested that this is a mere technicality.

In a statement, the latter firm announced that:

"NTP is confident that it will prevail upon remand for the additional five claims, as the evidence supporting RIM's infringement already exists in the current trial record. The Court of Appeals decision moves the case one step closer to having the District Court lift its stay, reconfirm and enforce the injunction."

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