RIM wins US Patent Office battle

By Steve Malone

Posted on 4 Jan 2006 at 11:00

Research In Motion, the company behind the popular Blackberry wireless email handheld is breathing a sigh of relief. The company has announced that the US Patent Office has issued 'non-final actions' against two of the patents held by technology company NTP. In effect they are held to be invalid

This leaves RIM facing only one issue of patent infringement as now seven of the eight original patents on which the NTP case was based have now been declared invalid.

The news from the Patent Office will not have come a moment too soon for RIM. In October the Court has turned down a request by RIM for a stay on further proceedings until the US Supreme Court heard the case.

In a clear sign that the presiding judge is getting irritated with the drawn out proceedings, last month US District Judge James Spencer rejected RIM's settlement offer of $450mn. The company now faces the possibility of an injunction that would force it to shut down its email service in the United States.

However, despite the decision by the Patent Office, the case is likely to drag on yet. Not only are both NTP and RIM committed to the battle in the Patent Office, NTP may yet go to the courts to appeal any decision made which overturns its patents.