RIM Facing New Blackberry Patent Infringement Woes

Posted on May 2nd, 2006 by John Reno

Research In Motion Ltd. was sued for patent infringement over its BlackBerry device only two months after settling a lawsuit that threatened to halt the e-mail service in the U.S.

Visto Corp., in a suit filed April 28, 2006 in U.S. District Court, claims the BlackBerry service infringes upon three patents on software allowing mobile access to data. Visto seeks a halt to use of the technology and unspecified damages.

“We’re asking for our rights to be respected,” Visto co- founder Daniel Mendez told Bloomberg in a telephone interview. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say we want to see them shut down.’”

Research In Motion, based in Waterloo, Ontario, paid $612.5 million in March to end a four-year legal dispute with NTP Inc. and avert a BlackBerry shutdown. Research In Motion lost many customers during its legal battle to products from rivals such as Palm Inc., maker of the Treo 650 and Treo 700w smart phones.

NTP owns a stake in California-based Visto, whose mobile e-mail software is used in more than 70 devices from providers including Cingular Wireless LLC, Sprint Nextel Corp. and Vodafone Group Plc.

A Texas jury on April 28 awarded Visto $3.6 million over similar infringement claims against Seven Networks Inc., validating Visto’s argument that its software “serves as the basis for this industry’s birth,” Chairman Brian Bogosian said. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently upheld one of the disputed patents.

Related Links

Read the article on Bloomberg.com.

Purchase a Treo smartphone from mytreo.net/store.

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