Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Bearmove]

RIMM seeing some buying action.

By Stuart Weinberg
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

TORONTO (DOW JONES)--The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision to re-examine five patents at the heart of a dispute between Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) and NTP Inc. is rare and could benefit Research In Motion.
Richard Meyer, a patent lawyer at Washington, D.C.-based Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, said possible outcomes to the reexamination include: a decision to reject the NTP patents, a decision to amend the patents or a decision to leave the patents unchanged.
It's rare for the Patent and Trademark Office to initiate a re-examination, Meyer said. But that's apparently what occurred. In a press release issued early Tuesday, Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry wireless handheld, said the director of the Patent and Trademark Office determined that certain relevant patents and publications (known as "prior art") not previously considered raise a substantial new question of patentability as to the claims of the NTP patents.
The simmering dispute between Research In Motion and NTP made headlines in November when a Virginia jury ruled that Research In Motion had infringed on five NTP patents. The jury awarded NTP, a Viginia patent house, $23.1 million in damages.
On Nasdaq Tuesday, Research In Motion is up 99 cents, or 6.7% to $15.86 on about 1.2 million shares.
Company Web Site: http://www.rim.net

(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires
01-14-03 1350ET