Blackberry maker settles patent fight with $612M payment

zengazenga
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Blackberry maker settles patent fight with $612M payment



By Ken Mingis, Computerworld



Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) announced late Friday that it has agreed to pay $612.5 million to NTP Inc. to settle the long-running legal fight between the two companies.



The patent dispute had threatened to end RIM’s popular BlackBerry e-mail service to millions of users in the U.S. and has been the subject of a contentious, four-year patent battle between the two companies.



Despite the bitter legal fight, many analysts had expected a last-minute settlement, believing RIM wouldn’t want to risk either a service shutdown or force their customers to download a software workaround.



In a separate earnings statement, RIM said it attracted 70,000 fewer new subscribers than expected during the quarter ending March 4, primarily due to “uncertainty surrounding the NTP litigation

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    zengazenga Posts: 267member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Zenga

    Blackberry maker settles patent fight with $612M payment



    By Ken Mingis, Computerworld



    Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) announced late Friday that it has agreed to pay $612.5 million to NTP Inc. to settle the long-running legal fight between the two companies.



    The patent dispute had threatened to end RIM’s popular BlackBerry e-mail service to millions of users in the U.S. and has been the subject of a contentious, four-year patent battle between the two companies.



    Despite the bitter legal fight, many analysts had expected a last-minute settlement, believing RIM wouldn’t want to risk either a service shutdown or force their customers to download a software workaround.



    In a separate earnings statement, RIM said it attracted 70,000 fewer new subscribers than expected during the quarter ending March 4, primarily due to “uncertainty surrounding the NTP litigation
  • Reply 2 of 7
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    yeah, the 450 million they offered up the first time wouldn't support ocean yachts, boeing jets and the like so the 612.5 figure would cover that nicely.



    I could care less, I am just glad my new 7130e works like I would envision a Mac Phone would work.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    Apparently a settlement was possible at $10 million...before it went to the courts.

    RIM was simply too greedy.

    However, the biggest winner seems to be the lawyers who will collect about a third of the 612 million.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by aplnub



    I could care less, I am just glad my new 7130e works like I would envision a Mac Phone would work.



    It takes a gig of ram to run the PHONE smoothly?!?!?!?!?!?





    WOWZA

  • Reply 5 of 7
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by satchmo

    Apparently a settlement was possible at $10 million...before it went to the courts.

    RIM was simply too greedy.

    However, the biggest winner seems to be the lawyers who will collect about a third of the 612 million.



    Wait... **RIM** was too greedy?? You've got that backwards, bub.



    Every single one of NTP's patents has been thrown out by the PTO on review. Why the hell RIM paid a *cent* to these bozos is beyond me. Unbelievable.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    his dudenesshis dudeness Posts: 560member
    What kills me is that NTP waited this long to file a patent lawsuit. I guess they wanted to see if their product would be accepted, but they never did anything with it, did they? I mean, can you buy an NTP phone anywhere?
  • Reply 7 of 7
    theapplegeniustheapplegenius Posts: 584member
    NTP doesn't make anything. They're patent whores that blindly come up with ideas, patent them, then sue when one of their patents take off. Burn 'em at the stake!
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