A similar ruling was made in Germany last week.
RIM brought a so-called nullity action in the English High Court over a patent owned by InPro, a patent holding firm based in Luxembourg. InPro had claimed its UK patent was infringed by certain BlackBerry products.
According to a statement from RIM today: "The English High Court has now ruled in favor of RIM by deciding that all patent claims in InPro’s UK Patent (designated under European Patent EP 0892947B1) are invalid. InPro may seek permission to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal."
RIM added that the equivalent German Patent (asserted in Germany) was found to be invalid on 27th January by the Nullity Court in Munich, Germany.
This action is independent of the higher profile lawsuit against RIM in the US. But RIM received good news on that front yesterday: the USPTO has issued an initial indication that one of the US patents being litigated is also invalid.
The USPTO ruling, according to RIM, relates to patent number 6,317,592, which contains five claims relevant to the long-running litigation between RIM and patent holding company NTP Inc. It means that the USPTO has now twice rejected all of the patents relevant to the dispute.
RIM was found guilty of infringing on NTP’s patents in November 2002, when a jury awarded it damages of $53.7 million and imposed an injunction on US sales of the product.
The injunction was stayed pending an appeal but its imposition is due to be reconsidered by Judge James Spencer of the US District Court for the District of Eastern Virginia in a hearing on 24th February. If granted, US BlackBerry users would stop receiving email on the move.
The US Department of Justice told the court that a shutdown would have a damaging impact on Government workers. So NTP offered to exempt Government workers. RIM argued that this was easier said than done: there would be disruption, it warned. The Justice Department heeded the warning and reiterated its concerns to the court.
But the USPTO ruling gives some hope to RIM. A final ruling on the patent could take months; but RIM says the initial ruling continues a trend in which all of NTP’s arguments on the merits of patentability of all of the relevant patents have been rejected by the USPTO.
If the final rulings reflect the initial indications, NTP could then appeal, and Judge Spencer is not planning to wait. He has already indicated that he will not delay the imposition of an injunction, if awarded.
