As expected, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has rejected the fifth NTP patent that BlackBerry maker Research in Motion was found guilty of infringing upon. This brings the the total of 5 of 5 patents rejected in all, however, this is still not the final ruling.

All though is is a bit of good news for Research in Motion, their stock is up over 10% on the news, it is not great news because the rejections are not final. It is fully expected that on final review the patents will be invalidated, however, this is bittersweet news as that decision won’t come for at least several more months and a hearing that could finally enforce an injunction against that sale of BlackBerry devices or service in the United States could come as early as Feb. 24th.