RSSRIM to Settle with NTP for $612.5 Million
By Nate Mook | Published March 3, 2006, 7:56 PM
Research In Motion announced late Friday that it had reached a settlement with patent firm NTP to end a never-ending legal battle that threatened to shut down BlackBerry service in the United States. RIM will pay NTP $612.5 million in a "full and final settlement of all claims."
RIM's stock surged 14 percent in after-hours trading following the announcement. At the same time, the company warned that fourth-quarter earnings would fall short of expectations due to disappointing new subscriber numbers. RIM said the litigation had affected new signups.
In a conference call with reporters, RIM CEO Jim Balsillie said the settlement did not leave him with "a good feeling," but argued the company had few options.
"It's a lot of money for patents that will not survive for sure," Balsillie said. "We are caught in an ambiguous time in the patent laws and the courts. No one feels good about this, but we are happy to put it behind us."
In deciding not to enforce an injunction that would halt BlackBerry service last Friday, U.S. District Judge James Spencer chastised the two sides for not making more effort to settle the matter out of court. Spencer said he hoped to have a decision on the injunction "as soon as reasonably possible."
However, the judge reminded RIM that it had already been found guilty of patent infringement. Spencer said, "the simple truth, the reality of the jury verdict has not changed." RIM was found guilty in July 2002 of infringing on NTP's wireless patents.
The comment from Spencer led to public statements being issued this week by both companies saying they were willing to sit down at the bargaining table once again.
Paypal, make Blackberry pay with Paypal. I think that would be funny.
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|I am not going to buy a Blackberry now because they give in to pressure. NTP you sux.
RIM should have just done a hostle takeover.
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|If they stole technology, then this would have been justified. Just because they gave in, is a really stupid reason to drop a company. They didn't give in, they were being sued, or maybe you didn't pay attention during current events class.
More class time, and less recess... Maybe you will actually learn something.
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|Nice Dollar if u can get it
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|Who cares, it happends all the time.. why bother even to waste a moment of speech on this. Im still waiting for Xerox to sue Microsoft and Apple for stealing the Graphic User Interface.
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|Apple paid for the license.
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|Yeah, says how much you know.
First of all, Xerox did NOT know how to market the GUI, therefore they scrapped it.
They *GAVE* Apple the software, lock, stock and barrel, *NO* questions asked, and *NO* royalties.
Secondly, the GUI was only basic, it had an X-mouse (this is where the term came from) and it was a very basic interface, nothing at all like the interface.
Other than a mouse, it was basically a glorified dos window with colored elements, that eventually became a graphical environment.
Third, QEMM actually paved the way for ALL graphical environments, it was called DeskView.
It was much like the apple interface and they redid the whole thing, which gave Apple/Microsoft the idea for a graphical desktop, not to mention the market, because they saw how popular it was becoming.
so Apple and Microsoft have QEMM to thank for the graphical desktop.
Xerox has as much to do with Apple/Microsofts sucess as the caveman did for inventing the wheel for ALL current automobile manufacturers. They only came up with a rudamentary idea, it was only later the REAL designs were made.
So, you need to read up on your history before you go spouting stuff you know ZERO about.
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|Quarterdeck, they made QEMM and Deskview.
Windows was available at the time Deskview/X was released though. Deskview was innovative in adding time slicing to DOS, Unix had had that for at least 10 years though.
Xerox licensed the GUI to Apple (Royalty free), and Microsoft decided to re-invent it after a preview (which well, must have been ok too huh heh).
QEMM was a memory manager, it provided EMS, XMS, and an HMA to DOS. ;-)
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|So the Judge says he does not care what the patent office says, RIM is guilty because of a bunch of jurists says so.
Judge Spenser must be getting a bundle from NTP Inc. Corruption nothing more than corruption!
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|Settlement means they settled out of court. No judge or jury. Thats a verdict.
Sometimes a company will settle to get rid of a case, even though they may not be "guilty" or "liable". Sometimes its cheaper to settle. Like the article says, new subscriptions are down, so with the case settled, they can expect subscriptions to rise. That's why the stock jumped 14%. Damn, I should pay closer attention to the news.
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|OHHHHH!!! The settlement happens OUT of court??!! /sarcasm
I THINK, THINK!! He was referring to this statement:
"However, the judge reminded RIM that it had already been found guilty of patent infringement. Spencer said, "the simple truth, the reality of the jury verdict has not changed." RIM was found guilty in July 2002 of infringing on NTP's wireless patents."
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|If RIM was found guilty of patent infringement what would happen to that verdict if the patents were thrown out?
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|Its a moot point, now isn't it?
Thats' like asking what would happen if OJ would have been found guilty. We can discuss this for millenia, and we will *NEVER* know, so what's the point?
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|The madness continues... can't sell a product? No problem! Just sue someone who can! Then win or settle, and get cash... what a great business model.
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|Yeah. But one thing you've missed: You have to invent something first.
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|One of NTP's patents was for sending e-mail from one mobile device to another mobile device. By definition text messages are an electronic message.
NTP did NOT invent text messaging like they seem to think.
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|May be you are missunderstanding me. I replied to previous post about business model. I was not talking about NTP vs RIM case, I have no knowledge about this case at all.
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|Yeah but from what I've read, NTP doesn't actually bring anything they have patents to to market. All they do is hold patents and then sue other companies.. and make a lot of money.
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|Someone should bomb their offices. A few arms and legs sprinkled about should raise a few eyebrows. If you can't get to the core, its the next best thing.
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|Your idea is way off. That's like saying everyone that uses a phone, owes Ma bell. There are many types of communicating devices, not just the phone. Just because it looks like a phone, doesn't mean it uses the same technology.
Text messages are sent via a different protocol. Its called simple text messaging. There are other methods for delivering messages on a device, you can use pop, you can push via a server, you can send AOL IM.. etc.
NTP owned the technology (or invented/patented) the protocol to deliver messages across a Blackberry network. You can text all day long, on your blackberry device, it has *NOTHING* to do with blackberry, its part of your phone providers network. If your blackberry sends messages (such as blackberry PIN messages) those are patented protocol messages, which RIM was in violation of.
A text message is NOT the same thing.
So, they didn't no invent text message, but you don't understand what the infringement is about in the first place.
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|Like duh, that's the point of holding a patent, so no one else can take your product, and profit from it, without your consent.
If you patent a song service, and someone else starts using your idea, all that work you did researching and deveoping is worthless, unless you patent it. You created it, you should get credit for it, and therefore people pay YOU to use the idea.
Maybe you like giving away your money, but that's not how this country operates.
You are the inventor of the idea, you should get paid royalties, otherwise anyone can use, and you wouldn't get a dime.
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