http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...-RIM-JUDGE.xml





Judge stops short of BlackBerry cutoff
Fri Feb 24, 2006 12:54 PM ET

RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday stopped short of ordering an immediate shutdown of millions of BlackBerry portable e-mail devices made by Research In Motion Ltd..

But U.S. District Judge James Spencer said there was no escaping that RIM had been found to be infringing on NTP Inc.'s patents and he would issue a decision on an injunction "as soon as reasonably possible."

Basically - he did nothing! Let the back office negotiations continue. Works fine for me.

Yeah exactly.

But in a way it bothers me that we'll have to continue to wait. I'd just like to hear a defintive answer one way or the other. This waiting nonsense is for the birds.

Yeah I agree he did nothing but I also think maybe he's starting to feel some pressure from the federal government and millions of users! Let RIM and NTP continue to talk and if they don't work it out, he won't issue an injunction but instead for RIM to pay a certain amount of money? Possibly not as much as NTP wants but... Thats just my theory

Too bad the judges statements are incorrect in the CBC.ca article about how RIM "clearly infringed on NTP patents". The Patent Office finally rejected the last claim.

Yeah, the patent office rejected the last one. So all of NTP claims have been rejected via the patent office. The judge may have also been waiting to see the final ruling - so as to make Rim's payout comeserate. I was suprised about the 2 million man hours to implement the workaround. It looks like Rim is going to come away looking sweaky clean - just my opinion.

Yes. Hopefully we will. All the patens have now been rejected. Just waiting for the ruling.

NTP and RIM are going to be playing "Deal or No Deal"

NTP, the banker is calling...LOL

I don't want to burst anyone’s bubble but somewhere I read that patent law is different than criminal law. Basically in criminal law if you find something that can prove your case at any time, it is admitted. In patent law, they have already been convicted of patent infringement so now they will be sentenced. I think that’s the way it works so it doesn’t matter that patents have been invalidated because they were already guilty. It sounds pretty stupid if you ask me.

*Note: I’m no lawyer, that’s just the way someone described it to me. If this is not correct, feel free to correct me.

I would have prefered an answer today as well.

Something like that. RIM infringed a valid patent (actually, several valid patents), and now they will pay for it no matter what happens in the PTO. Something like an 8% royalty for all the PAST infringing behavior. The argument about the injunction is the argument about FUTURE infringing behavior, and the Deal or No Deal analogy made above is a good one. The closer we get to an injunction, the higher the settlement value goes; the closer we get to final action from the PTO (which could potentially cut off all future infringments), the lower the settlement value goes.

The point that seems to be misunderstood is that the PTO isn't saying that the patent never existed. The result of the reexam will be a new scope of protection (most likely, zero scope) that will become effective the day the reexam issues from the PTO. Thus, as I said above, regardless of what happens, RIM is not getting away scot-free.

dozment your right on the money! It amazes me how many people failed to understand the message the judge was trying to send to the RIMM attorneys... if they don't settle this he WILL force the injunction.

Wow - a mind reader.

If that was the case, why didn't he grant the injunction with a 30 day grace period (which many thought he would do) to REALLY force RIMMMMs hands.

Or MAYBE he is waiting for all the Patents to be rejected by the Patent Office before deciding to NOT grant the injunction.