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Settlement reached in BlackBerry patent case
Research in Motion to pay NTP $612.5 million; devices to stay on
BREAKING NEWS
The Associated Press
Updated: 6:09 p.m. ET March 3, 2006
Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry e-mail device, Friday announced it has settled its long-running patent dispute with a small Virginia-based firm, averting a possible court-ordered shutdown of the BlackBerry system.
RIM has paid NTP $612.5 million in a “full and final settlement of all claims,” the companies said.
At a hearing last week, NTP had asked a federal court in Richmond, Va., for an injunction blocking the continued use of key technologies underpinning BlackBerry’s wireless e-mail service.
At the hearing, Judge James R. Spencer expressed impatience with RIM and urged a settlement.
“He basically questioned the sanity of RIM, and said it wasn’t acting very rationally,” said Rod Thompson, patent attorney at Farella, Braun and Martel in San Francisco. “His prodding of the parties worked.”
The settlement is on the low end of expectations, Thompson said, especially since RIM will not have to pay any future royalties. There had also been talk of NTP receiving a stake in RIM.
RIM, which is based in Waterloo, Ontario, had already put away $450 million in escrow, the amount of a settlement in 2004 that later fell apart. RIM will record the additional $162.5 million in its fourth-quarter results, it said.
The settlement ends a period of anxiety for many of the more than 3 million BlackBerry users in the United States. Uncertainty over the outcome had some customers wondering whether they would experiences brief outages or even a shutdown.
“I’m relieved,” said Matt Lattman, a management consultant in Boston. “I’ve had it for about a year, and at this point, I can’t imagine life without it.”
RIM had assured users it had developed new software to work around NTP’s patents. But because few details were released, analysts and some corporations expressed concerns about the viability of the technology and the legal ramifications of adopting it.
With a settlement, RIM will be able to avoid any of the headaches associated with introducing this new technology. Even if the software worked, it, too, might have been challenged by NTP, introducing yet another twist to this complicated and long-running case.
In arguing against an injunction, RIM’s attorneys had stressed the public interest in keeping its service running. Government and emergency employees would be exempt from the BlackBerry ban, but sorting them from other users would prove difficult and problematic.
RIM attorneys also noted that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in a proceeding parallel to the Virginia case, was poised to finally reject all patents at the heart of the case.
Spencer first issued an injunction in 2003 but held off on its enforcement during RIM’s appeals. After those efforts largely failed, the case returned to Spencer.
Looks like the "brain trust" at RIMM could've saved themselves $162.5 Million if they'd settled back when they had the chance.
slideshow on PC
TRY POWERPOINT.
Worse than a trainwreck - for you.
Yup, Your pal Steve, on his trusty DELL.
Bootz, my crystal ball tells me -
That tech stocks aren't where to be right now.
Not MSFT (will watch Vista & think...)
Not AAPL (certainly not with the Beatles suit next month)
Real Estate. Real Estate. Real Estate.
NO Tarmar.. '94
But that was good enough! 87 woulda been nice.
Time..is on my side:
"time frame, if you compare to MSFT, then MSFT has not even left the station ".
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=my&s=MSFT&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=aapl
Check the chart...MSFT is about 6 states ahead on down the tracks.. They could sit at the station another 5 years, & AAPL stock still wouldn't have caught up.
Correct, Tex:
According to M- W:
Main Entry: pelt
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English
transitive senses
a : to strike with a succession of blows or missiles <pelted him with stones>
b : to assail vigorously or persistently <pelted her with accusations> (considering who said "pelt=gently" file this under "irony")
2 : HURL, THROW <pelted snowballs at them>
3 : to beat or dash repeatedly against <hailstones pelting the roof>
intransitive senses
1 : to deliver a succession of blows or missiles
2 : to beat incessantly
3 : to move rapidly and vigorously : HURRY
- pelt·er noun
As for Ted Kennedy, I just can't respect a guy, (regardless of his political party) Who doesn't have the decency to open a car door for a lady. Especially AFTER he parks it 17 feet underwater.
Yofal, you may be right.
"Or perhaps they'll run wild, no longer under the weighty thumb of el Stevo."
Lasseter will do what he's always done. RUN PIXAR, the difference is, his checks will issue from Burbank. (Oh, & no longer referred to as an employee... now a "castmember". ) Iger will leave Pixar to it's own devices for the most part. No longer "under the thumb of a mercurial owner" Now under the thumb of a media conglomerate... THE media conglomerate.
WLD - Touche'
Disney's biggest changes in the last decade have come since Iger took over. The inane assumption that Linda makes that Steve Jobs joining the board would suddenly make DIS an AAPL computing company,and that he wields so much power are ludicrous. Roy Disney before him couldn't do it, Michael Ovitz couldn't do it, don't expect Steve to wave his hand & company's current IBM thinkpads will all be handed in for MacBooks. It's not going to happen. Steve owned Pixar, but John Lasseter is the one Disney cared about getting on board. All the previous Pixar movies weren't suddenly going to end up on Paramount DVD if Disney didn't buy Pixar. The characters already are in evergreen status thanks to Disney's daily exposure of them. ( If you've not been to the parks lately, there's Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters Ride, The just opened Monsters Inc. ride @ California Adventure, & the re-tooled Disneyland Submarine ride now to feature the Finding Nemo characters (re-opening 2007).) Without the theme parks, who thinks about 10 year old movie characters? Is there a Paramount theme park that has rides based on RockADoodle? I don't think so. This is all about acquiring talent, the portion of character rights they didn't have, and synergy between the creators & the distributer, with the added bonus of a bit less operating tension. FWIW, Disney overpaid a bit, but will make it up on now keeping all of the all important plush (stuffed toy) sales profits.
Linda, you really DON'T Get it, do you?
The assumption is that this is more likely since SJ will have so much power at DIS.
Steve gets a seat on the BOD & a big wad of Disney stock.
That's it.
Disney's daily operating structure won't suddenly change.
You really weren't kidding when you said you don't pay attention to the numbers or actual facts, were you?
REDF
Cramer is screaming BUY like he's on fire...
MSNBC - on PIXR-DIS merger
"I can't imagine any of Pixar's shareholders saying to Steve Jobs "What are ya doin' here?" Trading at a very high multiple, selling out at a very high multiple..."
Oh yeah...there's one clueless one that doesn't think the that the premium factored in over the last month in speculation of this deal, was enough. Some people will never get it.
Selective editting, Jimmy?
Don't know why you were afraid to post the whole information release... Never mind. here's the complete information release:
"MTV, Microsoft to Develop Online Service
MTV Networks Inc. said Tuesday it has partnered with Microsoft Corp. to develop an online music service to launch early next year.
The service, dubbed URGE, will be integrated into the next version of the software maker's Windows Media Player and offer more than 2 million tracks for sale individually or as part of a subscription package.
The service will also offer music over online radio.
Microsoft will build the technology behind URGE, which Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks will own and operate.
MTV Networks declined to give details on URGE's pricing, but users can expect to pay different tiers for a la carte downloads, subscriptions and for moving rented tracks to a portable music player, said Jason Hirschhorn, the company's chief digital officer.
Similar services typically charge around 99 cents for an individual track and $5 to $15 a month or more for a basic subscription package.
The current version of Microsoft's Media Player has built-in links to several music services, including MusicNow and Napster. A few months ago, Microsoft broke off talks with record labels to license music for a new online subscription service of its own. It did not explain the move.
Microsoft already sells song downloads on its MSN Music Internet site.
Under the terms of MTV Networks' agreement with Microsoft, URGE will stand out from other services, Hirschhorn said.
"We will be the preferred service," he said, declining to elaborate.
URGE will not be compatible with Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh computers or its popular iPod digital music player, a challenge the MTV Networks service will have to overcome, said Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director for Jupiter Research in New York.
"The biggest paradox is the people who are most likely interested in an MTV-branded music experience are also probably the demographic that has the highest interest in the iPod," Gartenberg said.
IPods represent around 75 percent of the digital player market, and Apple's iTunes Music Store accounts for around 80 percent of the licensed music download market, said Phil Leigh, a digital music analyst with Inside Digital Media.
The MTV brand could help spark interest in non-iPod players, Leigh said.
Hirschhorn said URGE's focus will not be iPod users.
"We think the iPod has done a great job. Our aim is not to switch people from iTunes and the iPod," he said. "We need to concentrate on where there's going to be a bigger market."
Still, the network will have to do a better job than other music services to sell consumers on the upside of subscription services.
"At the end of the day, the iPod drives sales to the iTunes Music Store," Gartenberg said. "It didn't happen the other way around."
"No citizen of this country should be above the law. But of course King Dubbya could pardon them."
Y'mean like his predecessor, Bill Clinton did to Marc Rich, his wife Denise, & a bunch of others who donated to his wife's Senatorial Campaign?
Somebody needs a map program
"Brea Mall, Anaheim, CA*
I wonder if the same nitwit planner who originally placed Fashion Square in Burbank instead of Sherman Oaks, made this latest map blunder.
Brea Mall is in BREA ! only 10 miles & 2 cities in between it and Anaheim. ( I guess Apple forgot all about the existance of Fullerton, CA & Placentia,CA)
Bootz: I stand corrected.
God I hate that... I knew one of them was a cover band.
Best song placement of the last year?
Jaguar's use of Queen's "I'm in love with my car" in their commercials.
Tex, Best check those facts:
"even an in-house label, like Madonna's self-owned Maverick Records, would be "competition" to a record label with noncompete/exclusive dealing language in its contract"
Maverick isn't self owned by Madonna. Majority ownership is still with Warner Bros. Maverick was a "vanity" label deal set up to give Madonna the ability to "sign" other artists, & have a boutique imprint on which to release her material. Beyond Madonna's catalog & Alanis Morissette's " Jagged Little Pill" , hits have been few & far between for Maverick.
The part where you refer to "selling their sheet music" is where you've come closest. THAT is the publishing rights that MJ & Sony own of the Beatles catalog. Not any of the actual recordings. Merely a control of how a particular song may be used & presented, beyond the actual sale of recordings. A perfect example of this is the Beatles song REVOLUTION, which Jackson ticked off the living Beatles by licensing to Nissan & Nike for a car commercial and a sneaker commercial. Neither commercial used the actual recordings made by the Beatles.
Publishing is NOT recordings:
"What if they've buried the hatchet, settled the whole thing and arranged for exclusive rights to whatever Beatles tracks weren't snapped up by Michael Jackson/Sony/whoever the hell owns them now??"
When are you going to get a clue that publishing rights (owned by Sony/ATV) and actual sound recordings (owned by Apple Corps. & licensed to EMI/Capitol) are not one & the same? The publisher makes $ from licensing the songs for commercials, and mechanical rights from recordings. The sound recordings owner makes $ from the sales of recordings (CD's etc.) And that right , (in the U.S. ) is still the exclusive domain of Capitol Records & the recording owner, Apple Corps Inc. .
"Apple has said it doesn't want to be a label because its core skills don't include discovering new musicians; "
Apple doesn't want to be a label because it's one of the legally barred points in the Apple Corps contract.
That many hits?
"I did a Google search for "nano" and got 49,600,000 hits."
HOW MANY were for similar products in the very same market niche that did the exact same thing? I wouldn't be surprised if there's a suit filed. Maybe Creative will turn around & market thier own "iPod". Fair's Fair.
Microsoft set for continued strong free cash flow
Standard & Poor's Equity Research reiterated a "strong buy" on Microsoft
Standard & Poor's Equity Research reiterated a "strong buy" on Microsoft ahead of the company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report on Thursday.
S&P Equity Research expects the software behemoth to earn 31 cents per share from operations on revenue of about $10.2 billion. "With our expectation of continued strong free cash-flow generation," the research firm said, "we believe that Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) ended the June quarter with approximately $40 billion in cash and short-term investments, and no debt."
"With its shares trading at a discount to peers, or 17 times our calendar 2006 operating EPS estimate of $1.52, and with our 12-month discounted cash-flow-derived target price of $33, we strongly recommend purchase," S&P Equity Research said.
MSFT - Longhorn now VISTA
Cool.. Much better than the Window-year designations of yore.
I wonder:
If altaire will remove his foot out of his mouth & make a retraction since it came from you & not me. My guess is not.
As Blue points out, most of Apples apps were hatched elsewhere.
iTunes => bought out from Soundjam
iDVD => bought from Spruce
Final Cut Pro => bought from Macromedia
Logic => bought from eMagic
Motion => bought in acquisition of Shake
iPod Operating System => authored outside Cupertino and licensed
etc., etc.
A little more RDF Kool Aid, Altaire? Your cup is almost empty...
Dil:
" I don't seem to see any announcement at all where Apple claims The Oaks is in Burbank"
http://investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=6934782
Pull your spoon out of the flame & see the 8th listing down. (under "planned")
Get thee to a map:
Fashion Square, Sherman Oaks (Burbank), CA
Closer, but still no cigar.(still about 12 miles off)
Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Valley Village, North Hollywood,Universal City, Toluca Lake, and then Burbank. Gee... only 5 or 6 little cities in between.
Get a clue Tomm, Just because the info came from me, you felt the need to jump all over it. The fact of the matter is, it was wrong, & even with your correction, You're still wrong. Maybe you AND Apple can go in "halfsies" on a Thomas Guide mapbook.
Leave it to an Apple apologist to pretend 40 miles of California don't exist, just so Steve could be right.
Somebody better check their map:
"The Oaks, Thousand Oaks (Burbank), CA"
Hate to break it to Apple, but Burbank & Thousand Oaks aren't anywhere near each other, with Burbank being at one end of the San Fernando Valley, & Thousand Oaks being about 36 miles away closer to the Ventura County Line.
Could this be the same map deficient planner that plans to waste a few million putting an Apple store in the Beverly Center, a whole block away from the already usually vacant Apple Store at The Grove? (maybe the plan is to open one & then close the other?)
No matter, but the fact remains that Burbank & Thousand Oaks aren't anywhere near each other. Apple needs somone who can read a Thomas Guide.
Riiight....
"Why can't MSFT consider it a community donation to offer say XP Home to the same population for a reduced fee?"
Right. Be sure to let us all know when Apple stops charging full price for a .point release. You know, as sort of "community donation", those could be free, don't you think? (No. Of course you don't. )
Bootz...
What? You're actually worrying about stocks?
What with the Spurs making it all the way to "the big show" , I figured you would be preoccupied.
P.S. Shaq WHO?
Congrats.
Of Course Bootz:
"Bet she could sell a lot of minis."
For sure... somebody already sold her 2.
MSN MESSENGER 7.0 Released
MSN Messenger 7.0 has been released, picking up where 6.2 left off.
THIS is still the future of IM. IMHO.
ACE
MSN Adds VoIP, Video Calls to Messenger
April 7, 2005
By Sean Michael Kerner
Microsoft launched the latest version of its MSN Messenger client, version 7.0, which boasts a long list of new features including full screen video calls, VoIP (define) and shared search functionality.
Microsoft also updated its MSN Spaces blogging service, which it claims is one of the fastest growing blogging communities on the planet.
The new MSN Messenger 7.0 IM client's video features were first announced in early March. MSN Messenger 7.0 users will now be able to have full screen video conversations with other users as well as new enhanced synchronized audio that improves the audio quality of IM video conversations.
"We've seen video phones for years at CES [Consumer Electronics Show] and other events and I think video conversations are going to become mainstream," Phil Holden, director of MSN global business and product management, told internetnews.com.
MSN has also improved the method by which video IM connections are made, which promises to improve overall user experience.
"One of the problems we find today is that often times when people are making a connection, the connection fails, and that is often because of firewalls that are in the way," Holden said. "So what we're doing now is making a peer-to-peer connection and that goes through for the most part. But if, for example, there is a situation where it can't get through on P2P, we've actually built what we think of as a reflection service. The video connection will actually go to the [Internet] cloud and tunnel in behind the firewall to enable people to make a connection. We think that is going to dramatically improve the number of times people can get connected."
MSN Messenger 7.0 will also introduce the concept of shared search on the IM client. Using integrated MSN Search capability, users will be able to search and share results of search queries while having an IM conversation. According to Holden, MSN did a lot of research into how people use PC-to-PC calls and they specifically looked at upstart VoIP vendor Skype. As part of that analysis, officials looked at how users made use of the service and also how many users used the service to connect to the legacy PSTN (define) telephone network.
"People tend to do a regular text conversation over IM, be it MSN Messenger, Yahoo! or AOL and then they flip over to Skype to do a PC to PC audio conversation," Holden said.
According to MSN's data on usage of the Skype-Out, PC to PSTN service quoted by Holden, the number of people that are actually using Skype-Out functionality is less than 10 percent. Skype was not immediately available to comment.
"From our initial research, the main driver for people is really PC to PC audio, but obviously we're definitely investigating PSTN termination," Holden said. "We don't have any short term plans at the moment but its definitely on the investigation path."
MSN Messenger 7.0 will also include a feature called "winks" which Holden described as "emoticons on steroids." When a user "winks" at another user an animated image with sound is played on top of the IM dialog box and then disappears into the background.
A new "photoswap" feature has also been built in, which allows users to swap photos and other media files with other users during a conversation. The latest twist on photo sharing, however, comes through integration with MSN Spaces integration, MSN's blogging initiative that launched in December as an active Beta.
MSN Spaces service has now bumped up its photo storage capability from 10 MB up to 30 MB. Over 4.5 million blog spaces have been created since the introduction of the service, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft claims that over 2.5 billion instant messages currently traverse the MSN Messenger network every day. The service also boasts over 155 million users each month.
What else are you missing?
Did the case brought by EMINEM get settled?
Or is that suit still proceeding?
Could be shrewd product testing:
Y'never know Bootz, Apple could be doing shrewd product testing, sending one Spoteeni, uh, iShuffle to certain death as a way to strengthen future revisions.
Remember the Samsonite Gorilla? Same theory.
Yofal: 80211.g :Doesn't play well with others
Maybe it's an interference issue with other devices in 2.4GHZ range
YUP. I went thru hell betweeen the Linksys & my wireless phones.
Too bad I forgot how it was resolved.
Ok Heywood.
Then let me add, "my personal experience has been..." to it.
B vs. G = range?
That's been my experience that range and speed were both increased. Yofie seems to have a link saying otherwise.
I'll go cautionary & say speed will improve, as for range, your mileage may vary.
E=MC2 (+ or - 3db)
Bootz, You were using a "B" version?
"This may move me to upgrade the router to a G version, which I've been thinking about doing, anyway."
Definitely an upgrade from a "B" version would increase range.
Don't bother with the "speed boost" thing, it's not worth the extra $20 , but going 80211-G is a worthy investment.
Bootz, You know who could fix this in a minute?
Whino. Still have his email address? Networks are his thing.
I Feel your pain regarding Linksys support. Rashid & Rajneesh just didn't cut it for me.
Gonzanga, where's the relevant part?
"Ah, but Ace, Sony is worried. They make very little profit on their electronic hardware and are losing share to other companies."
SONY is a varied & multifaceted multinational corporation, Not some "one trick pony" . They own the MGM catalog, a piece of Napster/Roxio, A Bajillion tunes in the Columbia Music Catalog, Playstation 2, Half of the Beatles Music Catalog of songs published by Northern Songs, (and soon Michael Jackson will default on his loan from them & they'll own the other half) and a ton of other intellectual property rights, & content. Sony isn't worried in the least.
"They aren't going out of business, no matter what Fannie Mae does" CORRECT.
" and in spite of the fact that none of their computers uses a 64-bit OS."
I'm really surprised an Apple supporter had the chutzpah to say that. After all, Apple was the one who initially claimed OSX was 64 bit, when it really wasn't,& still isn't. In fact, it was said somewhere on here today, that Apple is the only computer manufacturer without a 64 bit OS anywhere near release.
But Sony isn't growing and so they've taken the unusual step for a Japanese company and selected a foreigner to run the company.
Unusual, yes. But for a "multinational" like Sony, not surprising in the least. At least not to anyone with any foresight.
Your point?
How Sony is present in the living room.
"But it depends on how Sony is present in the living room. Is it a dvd player that maybe got Sony a 1.5% profit or an iPod earning a whole lot more?'
Let's see:
Last time I checked my living room,
SONY TV
SONY Satellite Box
SONY DVD Player
SONY VCR
SONY 5.1 Home Theatre Receiver/Sound System
Chow Chow named Sony... (wait. doesn't count)
Somehow I don't think SONY Corp. isn't too worried here.
They're doing just fine in the living room.
The only place they aren't in my living room is the game console (Microsoft's XBox) & the speakers (Celestion)
Sony isn't too worried here at all.
Bootz: What was the issue?
I saw the rant, but missed the details.
What was the program & issue?
Let me put my "power user" ability to work. I wanna help.