RIM settles for $612.5 million
p2p news / p2pnet: "Another Canadian corporate scalp now proudly hangs like a championship banner from the rafters of the U.S. justice system," says the National Post.
"Research in Motion Ltd., the Waterloo, Ont., maker of the ubiquitous BlackBerry wireless e-mail device, is the latest to belatedly, and grudgingly, acquiesce to the pressure of an American judge and jury, and hand over millions of dollars – in U.S. funds no less – to rid itself of a bitter legal battle south of the border."
The story comes with the news that RIM has settled to the tune of US$612.5 million with NTP, the Virginia-based patent holding company which alleges patent violation on the part of RIM’s Blackberry.
Did Rim actually infringe an NTP patent? Maybe. Maybe not.
But, the "bitter lesson" for RIM and its shareholders is, "the price of patent infringement with no clear ownership in the United States is US$612.5-million," says the National Post.
"Toss in all the legal and consulting bills, that’s about $1-billion in loonies."
Meanwhile, "The agreement, which covers RIM and its carrier partners, averts a potential shutdown of the system that would have affected 3.2 million BlackBerry users in the United States," says the San Francisco Chronicle, quoting Jo Haraf, cio for Morrison & Foerster, a San Francisco law firm with 1,200 BlackBerry subscribers, as saying:
"We’re very happy our clients and attorneys won’t lose contact with each other." A shutdown, "could have been like the old pre-BlackBerry days, when you couldn’t be as responsive as we are now. So we’re happy we don’t have to go back to that."
And at the end of the day, "there might have been a few sighs of relief in there from co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, too," says the Globe & Mail, "who knows – after all, the current settlement is substantially less expensive than the $1-billion to $1.5-billion (U.S.) that some analysts were projecting the Canadian company might have to cough up."
Also See:
National Post- RIM pays $612M to settle U.S. suit, March 4, 2006
patent violation – RIM versus NTP, February 24, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle – BlackBerry users emerge from the legal briar patch, March 4, 2006
Globe & Mail – A few sighs of relief, and now the battle with rivals begins, March 4, 2006
March 4th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
This is madness: Both on the part of the Patent office, and the moronic Judge who wouldn’t stay the case until the patents were settled.
RIM made a product. They sold it.
NTP was a failed cellular company that made a “patent” on a “Business method” of looking up a users info from a dbase, and synching it with his/her account, in order to do billing by the minute.
They created nothing. They took two pieces of kit, in this case, software dbase, and hardware switch, and hooked them up in a new and interesting way.
Imagine, you put a horn on your bicycle. But Ford has patented the “Business Method” of a “Hardware Auditory Warning System”. You could then be sued by Ford for infringing on their patent.
Yes, it’s just that assinine.
The patent office needs a big smack down, for allowing software, business methods, and other insanity to be turned into “patent holding companies” for those that can not make any sort of success actually selling things that people might want or need.
The patent office continues to just accept submissions based on fees, and lacks the expertise to really vet these cases. They have admitted as such, in public.
The sad thing is, RIM didn’t demand a patent-killing amendment to the contract. As it stands, they are just out 600 million bucks, no matter if the patents are found invalid.
So RIM felt the heat of Microsoft putting out it’s OWN push technology email devices/systems. Will RIM sue them? MS isn’t so punished by a few hundred million in fees. So they will ultimately be able to crush the likes of RIM, etc.
I had hoped RIM would stick to it’s guns, release it’s other methodology that was “non-infringing” and thumbed their nose at NTP.
Unfortunately, I think this judge was in the pocket of NTP. He clearly was out to get RIM, likely because they are a small, Canadian based company. I couldn’t see a US judge ever treating an innovative US company this way.
It’s a crime what’s going on over this. And the losers will ultimately be the US consumer. Not just over RIM devices, but in more and more cases where addle-headed fools decide the fates of multi-million dollar buisinesses, based on flawed patent law that favours extortion, vice protecting invetors who sell products.
Everyone in the US should hand their head in shame over this debacle against corporate rights.
March 4th, 2006 at 10:48 pm
No. Everyone in the us shouldn’t hang their head in shame. Those of us that are as disgusted with the patent office fools as you are need to contact their representatives and complain. LOUDLY!
For all the good that it will do.
March 6th, 2006 at 6:41 am
The sad part is, complaining wouldn’t do anything this time… hell, the US Gov’t even tried to expidite the process, but the judge was obviously hell bent on punishing a foreign company, and paying off the ‘paper tiger’ NTP – the company that creates nothing, makes no wealth, employs few people (except maybe lawyers and accountants).
These costs will be borne out to the consumer – largely the US Gov’t and US Corporations – in increased costs.
$$$$ from your pocket. Think about that.
March 6th, 2006 at 9:50 am
The only possible explanation: One or more are on the take, including the judge, the lawyers, RIM executives. Just watch their bank accounts. Also a foreigner has no chance fighting an American company in the biased American court system.