On news that Judge James Spencer may not wait to hear the final outcome on the validity of 5 NTP patents that BlackBerry maker Research in Motion was found guilty on, the United States Department of Justice stated that…
The injunction would literally prevent RIM from providing the services that would be essential for the federal government, as well as state and local governments, to continue their use of the BlackBerry devices.
The DoJ wants 90 days notice before a U.S. District Court enforces any injunction that could potentially disrupt service to ensure that public workers can keep using BlackBerry devices. The DoJ also said the the extra time would allow the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reconsider the validity of 8 patents, 5 of which RIM was found guilty of infringement on. The Patent and Trademark office has already invalidated the patents held by NTP, however, NTP has appealed the ruling.
To make a long story short, it looks like RIM is going to get a bit more time before they are faced with a shutdown. This takes away NTP’s leverage that could have forced a settlement before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office makes it’s final decision on the validity of the patents. A few days ago I said that I didn’t think there was any way that a U.S. Court would enforce an injunction that would have such an adverse affect U.S. business. I never even really thought about it from a government standpoint.
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