Blog: Claudia Imhoff

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Blackberry Usage in US - Denied?

Holy Cow! Those of you addicted to your crack -- er -- Blackberries -- look out! A possible shutdown of US service may be in the wings due to a major patent infringement ruling against Research in Motion (RIM), the makers of the Blackberry.

The US Supreme Court has refused a petition by RIM to review a federal appeals court ruling that upheld infringement charges by a little known patent-holding company -- NTP, Inc. This refusal means that a trial judge in Richmond, VA., could impose an injunction against RIM and block the usage of your Blackberry in the US.

Chief Justice John Roberts originally turned down a request by RIM on October 26 to stay the lower court's patent infringement ruling while the high court considered whether to hear the appeal. In seeking its appeal, RIM questioned whether it should be subject to the patent infringement ruling in the US Courts because it's main email switching facility is located outside the US (RIM is a Canadian company).

A little history may be useful here. The original fight began in 2001 when NTP sued RIM for infringement. Apparently the infringement is not at issue here. A jury in Richmond did determine that RIM had infringed on NTP's patents and awarded NTP a percentage of RIM's US BLackberry sales. The tally of damages -- at last count -- exceeded $200 million.

Since then, RIM and NTP had reached a tentative -- and eye-popping -- $450 million settlement in March of this year but the deal fell apart in June when the Virginia judge, James Spencer, disapproved of the settlement. Man, sure sounds like a pretty decent settlement to me for a "little-known patent-holding company"...

In briefs given to the trial judge in Virginia, RIM lawyers argued that the judge should remove the injunction for several reasons including an "exceptional public interest" in maintaining uninterrupted service ... Not being one of the millions of Blackberry users in the US, I don't have a lot to say about the effect the disruption will have. So, what do you say, Blackberry users? Will you go through withdrawal pains if your lifeline to the office is suddenly chopped off? I'd love to hear from you.

Yours in BI success,

Claudia

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