Volume IV

Issue : 3: February 9, 2006

• B.C. Supreme Court Awards Nearly $700000 in Damages for Online Defamation
• US Appeals Court Rules Airport ID Checks are Lawful
• In Separate Decisions, U.K. and Irish High Courts Order ISPs to Disclose Subscriber Information
• Maryland Appeals Court Makes Important Spam Decision
• Makers of Grand Theft Auto Video Game Sued For Hidden Porn
• Google Blacklists BMWs and Ricohs German Websites
• RIM Achieves Patent Victories in Europe
• Does Ontario Law Recognize the Tort of Invasion of Privacy

Home > Volume IV > Issue 3: February 9, 2006 > RIM Achieves Patent Victories in Europe

RIM Achieves Patent Victories in Europe

Research In Motion’s (RIM) patent fight with NTP in the United States is very much in the news, as RIM’s ability to sell its near-ubiquitous BlackBerry is in jeopardy due to NTP’s successful patent infringement action. NTP’s injunction application will be heard later this month. (To make things particularly interesting, the USPTO recently found that the patents on which NTP relies are invalid.)

While awaiting the U.S. District Court’s injunction remedy decision in its patent suit with NTP, RIM has achieved success in Europe having won patent-infringement suits in both England and Germany in the same week. RIM announced on January 30th, that the Federal Patent Court in Munich, Germany, had ruled in favour of RIM’s UK subsidiary in a battle with InPro Licensing S.à.r.l. ("InPro"). InPro, a Luxembourg-based patent-holding company, had originally alleged that some of RIM’s BlackBerry products infringed on InPro’s German-designated European Patent No. EP 0892947B1. In response, RIM brought a nullity action in the German Nullity Patent Court, seeking a declaration that the InPro patent is invalid. In the end, the Court declared all the claims of InPro’s patent invalid. InPro still has the option to appeal the decision to the German Federal Supreme Court.

Three days after announcing victory in Germany, RIM won a similar battle against InPro in the High Court of Justice - Chancery Division ( Patent Court) in London, UK. Once again, each of InPro’s UK patent claims designated under European Patent No. EP 0892947B1 was ruled invalid. InPro may still pursue the matter to the Court of Appeal.

Having lost a U.S. patent-infringement suit to Virginia-based patent-holding company NTP, RIM faces an impending shutdown of its U.S. Blackberry operations. The U.S. ruling threatens to cause havoc among business and government services. The next hearing in the NTP case is set for February 24th in a U.S. district court in Richmond, Virginia.

For RIM’s press releases, visit:

http://www.rim.com/news/press/2006/pr-30_01_2006-01.shtml

http://www.rim.com/news/press/2006/pr-02_02_2006-01.shtml

For additional information, visit:

http://news.com.com/2100-1047_3-6032818.html