Court Ruling in BlackBerry Case Puts Service to U.S. Users at Risk

OTTAWA, Oct. 7 - A court decision Friday renewed the possibility that service to BlackBerry wireless e-mail devices might be cut off for most users in the United States.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington rejected a request by Research in Motion, the Canadian company that makes the BlackBerry, to rehear its appeal of a patent infringement case brought by NTP Inc., the patent holder. A three-judge panel of the court ruled in August that Research in Motion had violated seven of NTP's patents.

As part of that litigation, NTP, whose only assets are wireless e-mail related patents, had been granted an injunction banning the sale of BlackBerry devices in the United States and forcing Research in Motion to stop providing e-mail services to all American customers except government account holders.

While the court declined Research in Motion's request for a complete rehearing by all 12 of its judges, it did order the panel of three judges to review some aspects of NTP's patent claims.

Kevin Anderson, a lawyer for NTP, said the company would now ask the court to apply the injunction to the patent claims that are no longer under review. Those patents, he added, are broad enough to prevent Research in Motion from continuing service in the United States, which accounts for about 70 percent of its revenue.

"The case is pretty much over," Mr. Anderson said.

Friday afternoon, however, Research in Motion said it would request that the court hold off on any action while it asks the Supreme Court for a review, although it acknowledged that such reviews are "uncommon" in patent cases.

"RIM continues to believe this case raises significant national and international issues warranting further appellate review," the company said.

Shares of Research in Motion hit a 52-week low of $64.55, down $2.42.

With the backing of the Canadian government, Research in Motion has argued in court that NTP's claims do not apply to BlackBerry software because it is held only on computers near its headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario. NTP does not hold any wireless e-mail patents in Canada. It is based in Annandale, Va.

I wonder what is going to happen if this follows through.... will our service just cease to exist or what?

EVIL. I love my crackberry. Ifg my email dies I am going to be pissed. Pissed I tell you. PISSSSSEEEEDDDD. I jsut bought A new phone too.

I'm surprised this isn't getting more publicity. Does the lack of attention mean it's not going to come to fruition?

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320) BlackBerry7520/4.0.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

I saw the article yesterday on slashdot.... The lack of media attention does make you wonder....

look, I think at the end of the day NTP does not want to stop RIM from selling bb's or having users in the US stop using them - there would nothing in it for NTP if that were the case. Clearly, NTP is structured to make money from enforcing what they believe are their valid patents. All of this is just posturing - getting RIM further and further backed up into the corner to the point where it is cheaper to pay NTP than to have their business disrupted - doesn't really mater if the patent case is valid or not when it looks like RIM is in the corner they will find some way to settle. To loose the US market would be a pretty big slap to RIM's marketing/sales model - one from which it would take years to recover from. It is not in their interest to let that happen.

Bottom line is that the only one's who can stop this from happening is the canadian government, through diplomatic efforts. If not, we will all be shopping for new phones.

Interesting that my email problems really started in earnest on or about 13 Oct

Let's hope our service isn't dependent on the Canadian government. We all know what good relations our "friends" in Canada have with the current U.S. Administration.

I'm not worried. Too much money in the pot for everyone involved to shut the service off.

I dont see a shutdown, its all just smoke and mirrors to see if NTP can get maximum dollars. Like it was said earlier, they dont plan on making a device so the only way they will get paid is through RIM.

Amazing... $450 million wasn't enough for them, so now they want even more. For a frikkin piece of paper and a company that hasn't built or designed a single product EVER.

It is rather sad but reality is NTP can't afford a shut down of BB or its services, without the revenues RIM sees from the US markets NTP could end up with nothing excluding a large leagal bill. RIM also revealed mo's back they have a back up plan and service (ready to go) which isn't reliant on the noted NTP patents so no service interuption would occure

funny thing is...this case was supposed to be settled....RIM just got ****y...as always...and thought they could weasel out of paying...HAHAHAHA
now its going to cost twice as much...Welcome to the american way...invent something great, create a huge market, make a bunch of money...then get sued by a company like NTP (whom btw consists of a lawyer and 1 or 2 admins) for everything you've created....legalized extorsion....RIM do yourself a favor and pay the figgin money..

Good spellchecker broken?