-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RIM patent
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 15:13:43 -0400
From: Woellert, Lorraine <Lorraine_Woellert@private>
To: <declan@private>
Hi Declan – thought Politech might be interested in the latest NTP v.
RIM development.
Link to the full BusinessWeek story is here:
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/apr2005/nf2005048_4289_db016.htm
The USPTO link to the patent in question is here:
http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_CH/.cmd/ad/.ar/sa.getBib/.c/6_0_69/.ce/7_0_1ET/.p/5_0_18L/.d/1?selectedTab=ifwtab&isSubmitted=isSubmitted&dosnum=90006678
<http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_CH/.cmd/ad/.ar/sa.getBib/.c/6_0_69/.ce/7_0_1ET/.p/5_0_18L/.d/1?selectedTab=ifwtab&isSubmitted=isSubmitted&dosnum=90006678>
Business Week Online <http://www.businessweek.com/>
APRIL 8, 2005
NEWS ANALYSIS
By Lorraine Woellert
*Did RIM Pay Too Soon?*
*A month after forking over $450 million to NTP for five
patents, one was rejected by the patent office. Others may meet
the same fate*
Research In Motion (*RIM* <javascript:%20void%20showTicker('RIM')> ),
maker of the ubiquitous BlackBerry, last month paid $450 million to
settle a furious legal battle over five patents held by NTP. The markets
welcomed RIM's decision to settle, boosting its stock 8% overnight, to
$64.85. But RIM might soon regret that it ever made a deal.
On Apr. 6, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office rejected one of the five
patents NTP had accused RIM of infringing and gave a strong indication
that the other disputed four might soon be rejected upon reexamination
as well. The agency has been taking a second look at more than 2,000
claims made on a total of eight NTP patents, including the five that RIM
allegedly infringed, ever since Arlington (Va).-based concern sued RIM
in December, 2002. After more than two years, the officials have
rejected all 523 claims NTP made on three of those patents.
*MERCILESS TROLLS.* RIM Vice-President Mark Guibert declined all
comment on the patent-office announcement. The company has called the
settlement "full and final." And NTP attorney James H. Wallace Jr., a
partner at Wiley Rein & Fielding, said the patent office's overturning
of the patents represents a mere interim step likely to be appealed.
"Don't declare who's won the baseball game at the top of the first
inning," Wallace said. "That's just the first step in a multiyear process."
This latest development in the BlackBerry saga -- and patent holding
company NTP's admission that the case is far from over -- serves as the
surest sign yet of the pressing need for reform of the patent system.
Patents have become too easy to get, and the current judicial culture
makes them all-too-convenient to defend in court as well.
Thanks.
Lorraine
Lorraine Woellert
Correspondent
Business Week
202 383 2221
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