While we yawn at most cases that deal with patent infringement issues, the BlackBerry/ NTP case is livelier than the usual patent case.
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In the case of patent suits they are normally settled or dismissed far before they reach the stage that they are now in with this particular one.
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In this situation the federal judge, who is getting tired of this ongoing case, is possibly ready to issue an injunction on the wireless e-mail device.
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Interestingly, Research in Motion Ltd. the maker of BlackBerry, and patent holder NTP Inc. are neither showing any indication that they will back down in any way.
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Because it affects governments, corporate and individual users so much, people are starting to get concerned by the continuation of the case. Since there are numerous scenarios that could be played out, it is instigating a very bewildering picture of what the outcome may be.
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district judge James R. Spencer has found himself in the unenviable position of contemplating issuing an injunction against RIM at the same time that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is about to withdraw NTP’s patents.
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Spencer who is known as a no-nonsense style judge, has made it known that he is not willing to delay things while waiting for the patent office to give their final word; which moves far slower than the court proceedings.
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It’s impossible to tell how the judge will rule because these types of cases rarely go this far in the courts or to this level of importance. In this case the ramifications are far reaching as there are more than 3 million Blackberry users in the U.S.
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Insiders say that the judge wants this case off of his docket so if there is no agreement between sides he will not hesitate to take action himself.
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BlackBerry came to market in the late 1990s, and was very popular among those who wanted to check their e-mails away from their offices or computers.
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In a jury trial NTP was awarded 5.7 percent of BlackBerry sales, which Spencer increased to 8.55 percent at a later time. In 2003 he did issue an injunction which was put on hold while RIM appealed. All of this didn’t resolve anything and the case came back to the court last year.
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Any type of blackout of BlackBerry that could come out of this would not include government or emergency workers. Spencer has been asked by the Justice Department to put the injunction on hold until things could be clarified more.
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According to RIM, if there were a delay allowed, then users would be able to download access new software that would not be under the current NTP patents. RIM executives say that this new software will avoid any type of disruptions in services. Analysts question whether there is something that will work nearly as good or could possibly be a strong inconvenience to current users.
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For these reasons numerous companies are racing for advice on whether there are any other options technology-wise that can be used.
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