Blackberry: RIM Open To Reasonable Solution

February 21st, 2006: The threat posed by to Blackberry users by ongoing legal wranglings could be averted before the February 24 US appeal hearing.

Blackberry-maker, Research In Motion (RIM), has announced that it is open to a reasonable settlement with US-based NTP - the company claiming patent infringement in the US district courts.

RIM has already offered a placatory offer of US$45-million to NTP in order to maintain its services. However, the offer never came to fruition as the case was driven into the courts. This new announcement from RIM comes as NTP's 2003 injunction is currently pending on a US Patent Office ruling.

However, this latest news might well be too little too late, as the judge in charge of the appeal appears to be losing patience with the ongoing litigation. Judge James R. Spencer no longer appears comfortable having to wait for the Patents Office to make its decision before he can make his. Therefore, his February 24th judgement on the injunction could pre-empt the actual patent.

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