RICHMOND, Va. Jan 25, 2006 — A federal judge on Wednesday set a Feb. 24 hearing date to consider a possible injunction on BlackBerry wireless e-mail service.

On Monday, the Supreme Court decided not to intervene in the patent-infringement case being heard by U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer. An injunction could block BlackBerry e-mail use among many of the estimated 3 million device owners in the United States.

Many analysts believe there's little chance of a U.S. BlackBerry blackout because the device's Canadian creator, Research In Motion Ltd., will settle the case with patent holder NTP Inc. or introduce a software solution to work around the patents.

If Spencer orders a shutdown, he is likely to give users 30 days or more to switch to devices offered by competitors. NTP, based in Arlington, has said government and emergency workers would be exempt from the injunction.

NTP sued RIM in 2001. A year later, a jury in Richmond decided that RIM had infringed on NTP's patents.

What did I get myself into???

Judgement day for RIM.

Everyone pay attention to the third paragraph and take a deep breath! It's gonna be ok! Heck, even Al Gore uses a Blackberry! ...and he invented the internet!

Priceless!

You are SO clever.....

"RIM claims it has a workaround to avoid a shut-down order, and it finally came clean on why it's holding back on just releasing the fix and turning its back on the NTP threat. The solution would force users to install new software on both servers and Blackberry handhelds, it said in its court filing."

That "work around" isn't sounding all that hot, let's hope they just pay up.

Well its all rumor. Some say new firmware is required, others say only the BES need changing. Maybe its all smoke and mirrors !

I just hate the fact that I can't even try out a Treo device as a backup in the event the lights go out on BB because the damn Microsoft push email doesn't work, and, due to the wonderful world of patents, may NEVER work.

o think it jus ntp is getting geedy and desprat dor money
besids thae claim might not be valid

So really - what happens to all of us that are in 1+ year long contracts (like I am with Nextel) ..

I have 2 lines of Nextel service - one for voice, and the other strictly for my Blackberry. If BB service is DONE and my Blackberry becomes just about as useful as a paperweight - do you think providers would cut consumers a break, and let them out of their contracts?