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“Research In Motion took out a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post and several other newspapers earlier this week, thanking those who supported the company in its dispute with NTP and also urging patent reforms. In the letter attributed to RIM’s co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, RIM said it was “pleased to put this matter behind us and remove any uncertainty from our customers’ minds.”

“Eleven days ago RIM paid NTP $612.5 million to end the long-running dispute over whether the popular BlackBerry wireless e-mail system infringed on patents held by NTP. Prior to the settlement, Judge James Spencer appeared set to impose an injunction on the sales and support of BlackBerry devices and software in the U.S. after RIM failed to overturn a 2002 jury verdict that it infringed on NTP’s patents.

“RIM settled with NTP even though — after the jury verdict and appeals process — the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had has rejected the claims in NTP’s five patents at issue in the case.”

Tom Krazit. RIM Calls for Patent Reform In Newspaper Ad. News.com. March 14, 2006.

See also:

Research In Motion. A Message To All BlackBerry Supporters. No date.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.