Palm Calls NTP Patents 'Dubious'

Palm has publicly responded to a lawsuit by patent holding company NTP, which accuses the PDA and Treo maker of infringing on seven patents related to wireless e-mail and connectivity, calling into question the validity of those patents and claiming they relate "to a paper-based e-mail service."

Palm acknowledged it has been in contact with NTP concerning licensing the patents, but notes it was not going to license technology that may be rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. "Palm respects legitimate intellectual property rights, but will defend itself vigorously against the attempted misuse of the patent and judicial systems to extract monetary value for rights to patents that may ultimately have no value at all," the company said.