InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

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=DJ Judge Denies U.S. Govt Request For BlackBerry Evidentiary Hearing
By Stuart Weinberg Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
TORONTO (Dow Jones)--A Virginia District Court judge will allow the U.S. government to appear at a key hearing in the Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM)-NTP Inc. patent dispute, but denied the government's request for an evidentiary hearing.
The decision comes ahead of a key hearing Friday at which Judge James Spencer will hear arguments for and against a BlackBerry ban in the U.S. The decision is favorable for NTP, as it suggests that Judge Spencer believes RIM is capable of designing a feasible solution to maintain government service should a ban be ordered, according to a lawyer who has followed the case. "It's good for NTP, not so good for RIMM," Lance Johnson, lawyer at Roylance, Abram, Berdo & Goodman told Dow Jones. Johnson isn't involved in the case.
RIM faces the potential ban due to a previous infringement finding against it in its long-running patent dispute with NTP. The government would be exempt from a ban if one is ordered. However, in several recent court filings, the U.S. Department of Justice has expressed concerns that its BlackBerry service could be disrupted if a ban is ordered. It said in the filings that NTP should be required to submit a plan on how a ban would be implemented, and it asked for a period of discovery and evidentiary hearing to evaluate that plan.
These requests were the ones denied Tuesday.
Johnson said he believes the government will appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. "You can bet the government will appeal that decision if they have concerns that their interests in getting a functional system at the end of this process are not well-represented," he said.
Johnson added that he was surprised by Spencer's order, noting that, typically, district-court judges faced with this sort of issue are fairly deferential to this sort of government request. "It may signal a strong desire by Judge Spencer not to tolerate any further delays," he said.
On Nasdaq Tuesday, RIM is up $2.01, or 2.8%, to $74.24 on about 4.5 million shares.
Company Web Site: http://www.rim.net -Stuart Weinberg, Dow Jones Newswires; 416-306-2026; [e-mail]
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-21-06 1326ET
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.