A federal appeals court ruled last year that Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM had infringed on NTP patents covering the use of radio frequency wireless communications in e-mail systems. (RIM's BlackBerry devices and messaging service offer users wireless access to e-mail and corporate data on portable devices.) The settlement required RIM to pay about $450 million to license NTP's U.S. patent.
But negotiations stalled between the two companies, after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office dismissed all but one of eight patents mentioned in the original claim. Continued dismissals by the patent office director could make the nearly three-year patent skirmish irrelevant. CNET News.com spoke with Balsillie shortly before the patent office's latest dismissal.
Q: Just a few months ago, everything seemed fine in your negotiations with lawyers with NTP. What led to the current impasse?
Balsillie: We signed a binding term sheet and we filed a motion to that appeals circuit court. In our view, we are doing everything we said we would.
In its filing with the Court of Appeals, NTP accused RIM of stalling. What's your reaction?
Balsillie: I'm not trying to change the deal. We are trying to finalize it. Four hundred and fifty million dollars is a big check, and the only thing we are trying to get is what was committed by both parties.
NTP argues that big companies like RIM try to bully little companies, such as NTP, that try to make money from licensing their technology. If IBM can make millions of dollars each year licensing technology, why shouldn't a small company be formed to capitalize on technology it has developed?
Balsillie: If they continue their fight beyond us--and they said that they would--they are basically granted a monopoly and it won't be much longer until they extend this patent fight to the carriers and handset vendors like Cingular, Sprint and Verizon.
If they own the patent, they own it. That is the claim the jury found. But so far it has been subject to appeal, and the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected several of their claims.
What's the worst-case scenario for RIM if you can't reach an accord with NTP?
Balsillie: We have reached an accord that has been signed, and it is before the courts. There are so many shades of gray in this argument. But we expect the courts to uphold the agreement.
It is also clear that we have a deal on the table for $450 million. We're ready to pay that and let that be the amount, but they (NTP) continue to hold out for more.
Uncertainty is never a good thing, especially as it concerns corporate customers. If this drags on much longer without resolution, won't this impact sales?
Balsillie: This has been going on for three years, and sales have been doing extremely well. Let's be honest: Right now, the only thing that matters is what's going on with the appeals court.
RIM was an early leader in wireless e-mail, but now you're feeling the heat from new competitors. Why do you think RIM won't get plowed under by Microsoft, which is now turning its attention more seriously to this business?
Balsillie: There has always been all kinds of competition in this space. There have always been competitive bets. There is room for more than just one company in mobile.
See more CNET content tagged:
NTP, Research In Motion Ltd., patent, court, negotiation
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/view/947
In the patent case between BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) and NTP the quality now stands at 87% poor quality as the patent office has now rejected 100 percent of the claims of the first seven of eight NTP patents it is reexamining.
It has many times been estimated that between 60% and 95% of information/mental process patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark office are of poor quality. A poor quality patent is one that would not stand up against adequate useful, novel and unobvious tests in court. Software and business model innovators believe that where the patent office can not ensure the vast majority of patents in a given subject matter are of high quality that patent monopolies should not be granted at all.
While the quite successful and rich RIM can defend themselves against the illegitimate patents that represent the vast majority in software and business models, the vast majority of innovators do not have the legal resources to do this. It is incumbent on the Canadian government to fix this problem by updating the patent act to either rid us of poor quality software and business model patents, or enact statutory exemptions of this subject matter from patentability.
Translation: U.S. politics and law matter. Canadian Governments don't matter.
- More Ontario crap
- by June 23, 2005 2:11 PM PDT
- In Ontario they think that they don't need to understand American patent law, cause they are Canadians.
- Reply to this comment
-
(3 Comments)Well, now we see the cost of Ontario arrogance; turns out the patent holders have the ear of the American courts because they are American, too, and have good arguments.
Canadian companies: Corel, Northern Telecom and now RIM; each making the same stupid 'we live in Canada, so we know better than you' mistakes.
RIM may soon be 'road-kill' just like the above two Ontario wannabes.
They should post a sign over their companies, "DOES NOT PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS!".
Canada is not big enough or important enough to take the position that we make our own rules. But try telling anyone that in Canada, shhhhhesh.
So all this article was, and is, is BRAVADO.