RSSNTP Patent Rejected in Final Judgment
By Ed Oswald | Published February 22, 2006, 3:18 PM
The United States Patent and Trademark Office said that it had found one of the five wireless e-mail patents owned by NTP invalid, and issued a final rejection notice to the patent holding company on Wednesday. The agency had previously rejected all five of NTP's patents in non-final rulings.
No further details about the decision were initially available. The patent was one being cited in an ongoing infringement case involving NTP and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion.
With the USPTO appearing to act expeditiously in the matter, it seems NTP will have little ground to stand on when the company meets RIM in a court hearing Friday. At the hearing, U.S. District Judge James Spencer is expected to decide whether an injunction that would shut down the BlackBerry service in the U.S. can be applied.
RIM, however, has said that it plans to release a software workaround that would allow the service to continue to operate. Details of the workaround were released on February 9. While NTP contends that the workaround may still violate the law, RIM has said the software has already been vetted for any legal issues.
NTP had successfully sued RIM in 2003 over failure to pay for the rights to use some of its patents. An injunction was issued that would have shut down the service, although it was stayed pending an appeal.
Late last year, Judge Spencer indicated he was tiring with the case and intended to move quickly. He added that he would not enforce a $450 million settlement the two sides had initially agreed upon before talks fell apart last summer.
The final rejection of the patent is by no means an end to the case. NTP said it intends to see a reexamination process through to the end, which could take years. The company would also have the opportunity to challenge the decision in a federal court.
"This Final Office Action maintains the outright and complete rejection of all claims in the patent," RIM said in a statement. "All of the NTP patents have been rejected by the Patent Office in initial and second Office Actions, based in part on prior art not considered in the 2002 trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia."
NTP was unavailable for comment.
Companies that patent concepts, cling on to them, and sue when someone comes up with something truly novel simply... suck. I think the patent reforms coming up will be good... if they decide to make it so that a patent holder must have a tangible product that can be sold to consumers implementing claimed patents in order for said patents to be valid. Now that would be great!
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|That doesn't bode well for intangibles like music and art. But I do see your point about a reform.
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|Suppose tomorrow you come up with a great technological idea that is generations ahead of our time, but no one to produce a tangible product for you nor can you get the funding for it to make it yourself coz everyone thinks you are a nutter. Worst of all, you cannot even own the patent on your revolutionary concept because you do not have a working commercial product. Would you still think it's great 20 years from now a company manages to create a commercial product based on your idea and they are able to hold the patent and make billions from it :)
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|I agree that there are many intangibles that should also be considered for patents, but the mere concept/idea alone should not be enough. Documentation should be done with drawings of these ideas to form the whole idea.
I do see NTPs point and if they are the holders, they should be able to sue. With the settlement of 450million agreed in their talks, one can only assume that there may be fowl play involved(assume).
Rather than shutting down the service, RIM should be forced to pay them for the use as not to distrupt a service many use in their lives.
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|I agree that patenting concepts is wrong but in the NTP vs RIM case this is not so NTPs patents were used in an unsucessful wireless email venture. Now RIM seems to be building on the corpse of that failure and not paying the creator (a reasonable comparison: Apple Newton=failure, Palm Pilot=succesful all do to timing not any fault in concept). They are getting a lot of backing because the government is so entrench in the usage of Blackberries.
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|Blackberry is not bad but nothing compares to Windows mobile or Palm based PDS/PC.
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|Just switch. Its over, RIM. You suck.
Sorry, -counting to 10- Mature response.
My idealistic experience with RIM has been anything but spectacular. RIM has some very real shortcomings, when it comes to operation and administration. Their software packages are lackluster, and I prefer to use other carriers. Unfortunately they are large in stature, and changing to another service would be costly, but I still support it. RIM, even as big as they are, still needs more competition, that's part of the problem. I want to see companies move from RIM to some other company, like goodlink or visto, or even MS has their service. All MS bashing aside, the Windows PDA/mobile devices offer a much wider array of versatility, and you aren't limited to ONLY blackberry devices, you can pretty much use any phone as long as its PDA/Mobile/Smartphone capable.. which is quite a few..
I still think RIM can attempt aviary intercourse with a rolling twisting, pre-ambulatory danish pastry. :)
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