The Blackberry Lives another day..

BlackBerry users win a reprieve


BY RICHARD J. DALTON JR
STAFF WRITER

February 25, 2006


The judge hearing a patent-dispute case against the maker of the BlackBerry device gave both sides time to settle the case, a relief to users of the text-messaging handheld computer who feared a court-ordered shutdown.

Fans of the addictive BlackBerries, sometimes called "Crackberries," worried the judge would shut down the service within 30 days, as requested by NTP Inc., a small patent-holding company in Arlington, Va. NTP won a lawsuit for patent infringement in 2002 against Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerries.

Research in Motion has said it has a backup plan in case of a shutdown.

Separately, Research in Motion said Friday the U.S. Patent Office has rejected the patents at the heart of the lawsuit.

David Roodman, partner and co-chairman of the intellectual property group at the St. Louis-based law firm Bryan Cave LLP, said Friday's decision shows "the court's effort to provide the parties with one more opportunity to try to resolve the dispute among themselves."

U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer's decision will likely come within three to six weeks, said Lance Johnson, partner with Washington law firm Roylance, Abrams, Berdo & Goodman LLP, who is familiar with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

BlackBerry communication devices are used by emergency response personnel, corporate executives, consumers and government agencies, including homeland security officials.

Jim Balsillie, Research in Motion chairman and co-chief executive, said through a spokesman Friday that the company demonstrated in court that an injunction would harm the public interest.

Balsillie also said the patent office should never have issued the patents at the heart of the case. "As of today, all of the patents remaining in dispute have also been rejected by the patent office re-examination team," Balsillie said.

NTP can appeal the decision within the patent office. NTP did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Despite the decision by the patent office, the case will likely continue in court, as the courts and patent office consider different criteria and burdens of proof, Roodman said.

But the rejection of the patents puts more pressure on NTP, Roodman said, adding that both companies "are playing a game of time here and playing every card that they have."

Another case could affect this dispute. Next month, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in MercExchange LLC v. eBay, which will determine when it's appropriate to issue injunctions in patent-infringement cases.