WSJ(2/23) Patent Office Deals Blow To NTP In Fight With RIM
(From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL) By Mark Heinzl
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office rejected another wireless email patent held by NTP Inc., a move announced two days before NTP is slated to ask a federal judge for a shutdown of Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry service in the U.S.
RIM said yesterday that it had received a copy of a "final office action" by the patent office that rejected one of the NTP wireless-email patents involved in the long-running court battle between two companies. Another relevant NTP patent was rejected by the patent office earlier this month, and a final-office-action ruling on an additional relevant NTP patent is expected "soon," RIM said.
"All of the NTP patents have been rejected by the patent office in initial and second office actions," said RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, in a statement yesterday.
NTP, Arlington, Va., said any suggestions on RIM's part that NTP's patents "have been invalidated are flatly wrong and intentionally misleading." NTP can appeal the patent-office rulings first through the patent office, and then through the federal court system if necessary, NTP said.
Meanwhile, the RIM-NTP patent-infringement battle is coming to a crucial phase that could result in a court-ordered shutdown of BlackBerry service in the U.S. The two sides tomorrow are scheduled to present arguments on the matter before Judge James R. Spencer of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond, Va.
NTP says it is entitled to an injunction banning U.S. BlackBerry service because the court previously has found the device infringes NTP's patents. RIM, which has 4.3 million BlackBerry subscribers, mostly in the U.S., says an injunction isn't appropriate for various reasons.
NTP counters that it could pursue a lengthy appeal process over the patent office's latest decisions, and the BlackBerry shutdown shouldn't be held up in the meantime. Efforts to reach a settlement in the case haven't been successful. RIM says Judge Spencer should let the patent office's rulings play out before issuing any BlackBerry shutdown.
Some legal experts say the judge already has hinted he might not go along with that argument. Judge Spencer in November said a patent's status can take years to be resolved even after final office actions are issued, according to Robert Redmond, a product-liability and patent lawyer with Williams Mullen in Richmond.
Yesterday in 4 p.m. composite trading, RIM shares fell $1.01, or 1.4%, to $73.14 each on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-22-06 1947ET
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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