BlackBerry settles patent case
on Mar 3, 2006 at 7:15 pm
(On January 23, the Supreme Court denied review of Research in Motion, Ltd.’s appeal — docket 05-763 — challenging a finding that its BlackBerry e-mail messaging device violated patents held by a small Virginia company, NTP Inc. Since then, the case has moved in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., toward a possible new injunction to shut down operation and sales of the BlackBerry system in the U.S.)
The threat of a shutdown of BlackBerry throughout the U.S. ended on Friday afternoon with dismissal of NTP Inc.’s patent lawsuit against RIM, the Waterloo, Canada, company that makes and markets the device. U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer dismissed the case “without prejudice” in a brief order. In a separate order, the judge released $612.5 million from funds held in an escrow account. That is the amount that RIM announced it had agreed to pay NTP to settle and thus end the dispute altogether. (The orders are shown on the Court’s docket in NTP v. Research in Motion, 01-767.)
In a statement on its website, RIM said that the settlement deal “eliminates the need for any further court proceedings or decisions related to damages or injunctive relief.” It said it had agreed to pay NTP $612.5 million.The company said that, as of November, it had total cash, investments and escrow funds totaling about $1.8 billion. It said it would report the full accounting details of its earnings on April 6.
The settlement, it said, “relates to all patents owned and controlled by NTP and covers all of RIM’s products, services and technologies.” In return for the payment, it said, NTP “grants RIM an unfettered right to continue tis business, including its BlackBerry related business. The resolution permits RIM and its partners to sell RIM products and services completely free and clear of any claim by NTP…”
