With hopes an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court would work, Research in Motion (RIM) suffers another rejection in what has turned into a difficult and long patent dispute with NTP. Today the Supreme Court rejected RIM's appeal that was contesting whether U.S. patent laws apply to its product and services even though the company's operations are located in Canada.
NTP Inc., a Virginia based firm, claims that the technology used for sending and receiving e-mails via your BlackBerry device has infringed on existing patents they have for that technology. The rejection of the appeal will keep the case in the hands of the lower courts.
Having already been found guilty of patent violations in a Virginia U.S. district court, NTP is requesting a payment from RIM for $126 million in damages, royalty payments, and a permanent injunction against RIM. The injunction request from NTP is asking for profits from sales and services of all BlackBerry devices in the U.S. RIM's profits from the U.S. generate 70% of the company's revenue. To keep their current and new BlackBerry users at ease, RIM has developed an alternate technology to replace any restrictions from NTP's patent.
