Search Results for: NTP

Back in November rumors about Research in Motion buying out Palm started to surface but nothing really ever came out of them. I bet after todays news that Mark Nelson, a top Palm shareholder, wants Palm to consider a buyout, the rumors about RIM being a potential buyer will crop up again.

That being said, here are my top ten reasons Research in Motion should buy Palm:

1. Palm’s logo is prettier than RIM’s
2. Palm has 2 or 3 new models coming out this year for me to speculate incorrectly about in the Rumor Mill.
3. Jack Bauer from 24 uses a Treo.
4. I will look like a genius for buying all that Palm stock right before the Treo 700w was officially announced.
5. Just to hack off all the BlackBerry traditionalists that think the company would crumble if they ever offered a device with a digital camera or removable memory.
6. RIM has all that money that money laying around that they thought they were going to have to settle with NTP with. They may as well do something with it.
7. I cannot run my SlingBox from my 7130e.
8. We can go back to calling our BlackBerries Palm Pilots.
9. We would have more than enough content for that new “What sucks about RIM” section on RIMarkable.
10. BlackBerry Connect for the Treo may actually get released.

Usually when you are talking about patent disputes in the wireless email world you are talking about the legal battle between NTP and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. The most recent infringement lawsuit filed, however, deals with two of RIM’s competitors.

Visto Corporation today announced that it has filled a patent infringement lawsuit against one of RIM’s biggest competitors, Good Technology, makers of GoodLink.

In the claim, Visto alleges that various Good Technology products, including GoodLink, their push e-mail service, infringe on the patents that Visto has held for the past nine years. The suit seeks a permanent injunction against GoodLink and Good’s other infringing technology, which can power several mobile devices including the Palm Treo, HP’s iPAQ hw6500, and the Motorola MPx220, among others. The suit also seeks monetary damages.

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U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer has set the date for the next hearing in the NTP vs. Research in Motion patent infringement case to February 24th, four weeks from this Friday. In this hearing, Judge Spencer could decide whether or not to enforce an injunction against BlackBerry maker, Research in Motion, from the sale of BlackBerry devices or service in the United States.

Many are worried that RIM is going to be shut down, however, in the words of our friend Russell Shaw from BBHub, “It ain’t gonna happen“. If the USPTO hasn’t ruled all the NTP patents that RIM was found guilty of infringement invalid, Russell’s idea of of an escrow payment to NTP that waits until final outcome of the USPTO’s rulings is dead on.

By all indications, NTP’s patents will be invalidated which makes this case all but go away. If however, the worst case scenario for RIM creeps up, the patents are upheld, RIM still can, and would settle.

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The United States Supreme Court today announced that it will not hear BlackBerry maker Research in Motion’s appeal, leaving the resolution of the fight over patents with NTP up to U.S. Federal District Judge James R. Spencer.

Many fear that judge Spencer will rule that an injunction against the sale or service of BlackBerry devices in the United States be enforced, however, all RIM has to do to make sure that they are not shutdown is settle with NTP. Judge Spencer, although quoted as saying he does not have to wait on the final ruling for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over the validity of the 5 patents RIM was found guilty of infringing upon, he may just do so because the USPTO has actually said they fully expect to reject all the NTP patents on final review.

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Looking for a cool accessory for your brand new BlackBerry 8700? How about a 2006 BMW with BMW Assist (Bluetooth technology). According to Automobile.com, all 2006 BMW models that have BMW Assist from September 2005 production will be able to wirelessly pair the address book allowing you to make mobile calls using the on-board controls in the car or use hands-free voice command dialing.

BMW is going to bypass any RIM patent infringement legal woes by offering BlackBerry address book pairing only on Canadian-spec BMW models, however, other markets, including the United States, are expect to follow shortly.

Wireless address book pairing only works on BlackBerry devices that have BlackBerry OS 4.1 or higher installed. I believe that BlackBerry 8700, 7130e, and 7100i owners are good to go. Hopefully by the time this is offered in the U. S., OS upgrades for older model BlackBerry devices with Bluetooth will be available.

By the by,
I have heard that a RIM exec or two reads RIMarkable from time to time. If you send me a BMW to test with, I will be more than happy to write are review.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is likely to back BlackBerry Maker Research in Motion.

In an unusual step, the USPTO notified both Research in Motion and Virginia based patent holder NTP that the five patents RIM was found guilty of infringing on would be rejected in its final rulings and that the final rulings may come by mid-February, earlier than expected.

“The patent owner’s arguments are deemed nonpersuasive,” said the patent office document, which was received last week but dated Nov. 30. “The next office action is expected to be a final rejection of all current claims.”

RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie says that the BlackBerry firms lawyers believe that if the patents are rejected, any proceedings to place an injunction on the sale of BlackBerry services in the United States will be immediately halted.

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This passed Thursday BlackBerry maker Research in Motion offered a settlement to patent holding firm NTP in an effort to settle their patent dispute. According to NTP co-founder Don Stout in a Reuters Newswire article, the written offer was “unacceptable”. So unacceptable that NTP isn’t even negotiating with RIM. “They have responded yesterday in a manner which is unacceptable so we’re not negotiating,” said Stout.

The Wall Street Journal reported the NTP would settle for 5.7% of future revenue, however, Stout wanted to make it clear the NTP and RIM are not close to a deal.

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Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney has advised clients to halt all deployments of Research in Motion’s BlackBerry Devices until RIM legal woes are resolved.

The research note advises enterprises to “stop or delay all mission-critical BlackBerry deployments and investments in the platform until RIM’s legal position is clarified” because “US BlackBerry users would lose messaging services… and international users would lose message service while travelling in the US”

This kind of recommendation clearly tells RIM that they need to settle with NTP as soon as possible. If Gartner put out a recommendation that light is no longer good for business you would start see many organizations change their standard to darkness. That being said it would not shock me if your Microsoft rep showed up to your office tomorrow with a copy of the Gartner report in hand as they tell you all the great things about Windows Mobile 5.0 and SP2 for Exchange 2003.

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With every passing day it looks more and more like BlackBerry maker Research in Motion will have to settle with Virginia based patent holding company NTP over a patent infringement case that RIM lost a few years ago. The big questions are when will RIM settle with NTP and how much will they settle for? Some believe that the price tag could be upwards of $1 billion U.S.

Even though RIM is a pretty healthy company and they have a lot of cash on hand, that kind of payout will significantly affect the stock price adversely. Some analysts believe that the stock price that has been hanging around in the low $60s could work it’s way down to the single digits over time. That wouldn’t be just from a massive payout that looks inevitable, but also from mounting pressures and good enough technology from competition.

Research in motion is a media darling and is seen as a huge success when it comes to technology companies. It will be interesting to see how the company is perceived this time next year.

With the NTP ruling that just dropped on Research in Motion yesterday, will investors start to pull out of the stock (RIMM)? Analyst like Mad Money’s Jim Kramer, founder for the theStreet.com, think that this is a bad place to be right now. We will have to watch the stock and see how it does over the next few days.