BlackBerry blackmail
March 06, 2006
RSI treatment industry hails BlackBerry settlement
The BlackBerry saga, which discomfited CTOs and confounded legions of compulsive thumb typists, is finally over -- now little more than a memorial to the contemptible state of intellectual property law in the U.S. With a court-ordered shutdown of Research in Motion's U.S. business a very real possibility, the BlackBerry maker on Friday struck an 11th-hour deal with NTP, settling its long-running dispute with the patent holding company. For a one-time payment of $612.5 million, NTP agreed to drop its patent infringement claims against RIM and permit the company to continue its BlackBerry-related business without interruption. That's a high price to pay for any patents -- especially largely discredited ones (see "RIM to NTP: Appease you we tried, now screwed you all will be.") -- but perhaps a reasonable investment to bring these pitiable shenanigans to an end. "It's a lot of money for patents that will not survive, for sure, but that doesn't do us any good if there's a court that doesn't wait," RIM Chairman and co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said during a conference call after the announcement. "No question, we took one for the team here. It wasn't a good feeling to write this kind of check."
Link: http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2006/03/the_blackberry_.html
RSI treatment industry hails BlackBerry settlement
The BlackBerry saga, which discomfited CTOs and confounded legions of compulsive thumb typists, is finally over -- now little more than a memorial to the contemptible state of intellectual property law in the U.S. With a court-ordered shutdown of Research in Motion's U.S. business a very real possibility, the BlackBerry maker on Friday struck an 11th-hour deal with NTP, settling its long-running dispute with the patent holding company. For a one-time payment of $612.5 million, NTP agreed to drop its patent infringement claims against RIM and permit the company to continue its BlackBerry-related business without interruption. That's a high price to pay for any patents -- especially largely discredited ones (see "RIM to NTP: Appease you we tried, now screwed you all will be.") -- but perhaps a reasonable investment to bring these pitiable shenanigans to an end. "It's a lot of money for patents that will not survive, for sure, but that doesn't do us any good if there's a court that doesn't wait," RIM Chairman and co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said during a conference call after the announcement. "No question, we took one for the team here. It wasn't a good feeling to write this kind of check."
Link: http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2006/03/the_blackberry_.html
posted by John at 5:47 PM
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