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Friday, February 24, 2006
will your Blackberry go dark?
One of the most anticipated rulings from a district court in a patent case is about to be issued, after oral arguments in the remedy phase were heard today (see here). Judge James R. Spencer will soon decide whether to order a shut down of the Blackberry service provided to millions of people by the Canadian company RIM. RIM/Blackberry has already been found to have infringed the patents of holding company NTP. (Meanwhile, RIM initiated a reexamination of NTP's patents in the Patent Office, which apparently has preliminarily decided that 5 of NTP's patents are invalid. Frankly, I'm not sure that the Patent Office can assert jurisdiction over the issue when the district court still has jurisdiction over the entire matter.)
Based on the little I've heard about Judge Spencer (a no-nonsense kinda judge), I think he'll issue an injunction. But that's just a guess. Sorry, Blackberry owners. It may be time to give up your addiction (see here).
Posted by Elee on February 24, 2006 at 01:12 PM in Intellectual Property | Permalink
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Comments
Riot.
Posted by: Paul Gowder | Feb 24, 2006 3:29:02 PM
I'm an addict - I'll admit. And I'm a corporate lawyer, not a litigator, but this case completely befuddles me. Even though the damages can clearly be monetized, an injunction is at issue because that is part of the game in patent litigation, is that correct?
Second, how can the viability of the patent possibly be separated from consideration of whether the patent was violated? Further, if the patents are 95% ready to fail (with one even failing today?), how can you issue an injunction as if that knowledge wasn't out there?
The press has not done a particularly great job of explaining the issues here and the Judge Spencer's reasoning.
Posted by: Randy | Feb 24, 2006 3:15:11 PM
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