A jury in the US District Court of the Eastern District of
Virginia has decided that Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the
BlackBerry PDA, is infringing patents held by software company NTP
and must pay $23 million in damages. RIM said that it will
appeal.
In its lawsuit, filed in November 2001, NTP claimed that certain
RIM products were infringing on NTP patents covering a method of
using radio frequency wireless communications in e- mail
systems.
The Virginian court's jury yesterday accepted NTP's arguments.
However, its $23 million fine could be increased if the judge
decides that RIM willfully infringed NTP's patents.
RIM said in a statement that it is "disappointed" by the
verdict, but claimed that the decision has no effect on its patents
and other intellectual property. The company intends to appeal the
decision.
Earlier this month, RIM and rival Handspring settled a dispute
over a keyboard patent. RIM has also sued Good Technologies.
