Feds To RIM: We Got Your Back, Just Keep The Crackberries Running

from the can't-be-without-that-hit dept

Fri, Nov 11th 2005 3:51pm — Mike Masnick

Almost three years ago, when people started talking about how RIM could be forced to kill Blackberry service in the US over their patent dispute with NTP, the US Congress filed a brief in the case noting how much damage it would to the US government should their Blackberries stop working. Don't think they haven't been watching the situation closely for the last three years either. While you would think that would have given government officials enough time to work out a backup plan (especially now that there really are viable alternatives to the Blackberry), that's not the case. With the momentum clearly shifting back to NTP in the case, the Justice Department has filed a statement of interest which (reading between the lines) says something along the lines of: "Please, please, please, please, please do not force RIM to shut off Blackberry service in the US. We'd just die." Ah, yes, once again the government looks for ways to avoid patents when they're inconvenient.

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10 Comments

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gattaca, 11 Nov 2005 @ 9:21pm

Yeh, well . . .
What dogmatic group declared blackberry THE solution for wireless handhelds???
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Nonesuch, 11 Nov 2005 @ 11:44pm

Why Blackberry over other solutions?
What dogmatic group declared blackberry THE solution for wireless handhelds???
There are plenty of wireless handheld solutions, but Blackberry has the most popular approach for "push" email... most other solutions, the handheld has to actively poll for new messages every X minutes, or use some sort of hack like the IDLE command in IMAP4 used by SnapperMail, etc.
Additionally, in a corporate environment Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) is arguably the most stable and scalable solution for rolling out wireless email to hundreds or thousands of employees. Competitors like "Good" just aren't good enough.
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Mike (profile), 12 Nov 2005 @ 11:42am

Re: Why Blackberry over other solutions?
The question isn't why Blackberry over other solutions, but why not have a backup plan, clearly knowing that Blackberry may need to be shut off.
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Mousky, 12 Nov 2005 @ 12:38pm

Re: Why Blackberry over other solutions?
You are overstating the impact of recent comments from the judge. Blackberry will not be shut off. It is not in NTP's interest to see an injunction. If Blackberry is shut off, then RIM would lose revenue, lots of it, which would make that huge windfall that NTP is looking for, less likely to happen. RIM will pay - and they know that. Most financial analysts are betting on a settlement of around $1 billion. Not a bad pay day for a company that makes no products and provides no services. Thank god for the patent system.
Good read at Blackberry Surprise
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Mike (profile), 12 Nov 2005 @ 1:03pm

Re: Why Blackberry over other solutions?
No, I agree. There's no way it will be shut off (I think $1 billion is a bit high, but we'll see...). However, it's pretty clear that the gov't hasn't planned ahead in case it does happen -- which it absolutely could.
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Agitater, 12 Nov 2005 @ 2:00pm

Feds To RIM: We Got Your Back, Just Keep The Crack
. . . except that the U.S. Patent Office is has released its preliminary report stating that the NTP patent may not hold. The courts won't reverse a ruling against RIM based on a preliminary finding of the USPO, but logic dictates that if the USPO's own findings are now indicating a reversal the most likely winners in all of this will be the lawyers who counter-sure NTP when the USPO's final report favoring RIM is released (Two years from now? Three years?). Call Congress foolishly protective right now if you must, but the USPO has a hell of a lot to answer for because of reams of bad patents which been rescinded over the past ten years. The USPO is a rancid joke.
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Agitater, 12 Nov 2005 @ 2:01pm

Feds To RIM: We Got Your Back, Just Keep The Crack
. . . except that the U.S. Patent Office has released its preliminary report stating that the NTP patent may not hold. The courts won't reverse a ruling against RIM based on a preliminary finding of the USPO, but logic dictates that if the USPO's own findings are now indicating a reversal the most likely winners in all of this will be the lawyers who counter-sue NTP when the USPO's final report favoring RIM is released (Two years from now? Three years?). Call Congress foolishly protective right now if you must, but the USPO has a hell of a lot to answer for because of reams of bad patents which been rescinded over the past ten years. The USPO is a rancid joke.
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Stoned4Life, 12 Nov 2005 @ 9:09pm

Re: Why Blackberry over other solutions?
Since when has the government had a backup plan for anything??

1. Create a Plan
2. Execute the Plan
3. Hope the plan works
4. Pray the plan works
5. Holy crap, the plan isn't working.
6. OMG, what are we supposed to do??
7. Turn to the judicial system and bend the law to suit your strongest and deepest desires... no, we're not legalizing child porn here.
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Mousky, 12 Nov 2005 @ 10:45pm

Re: Why Blackberry over other solutions?
Several analysts believe that the worst-case scenario for RIM is $1.5 billion. I read an "interesting" rant over at The Register that claimed that this was a David (NTP) versus Goliath (RIM) battle. Um, ya, RIM invests millions of dollars into a physical product and NTP invests zero into non-existant products and services. Gotta love patent blackmail. Why innovate when you can litigate?
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dude, 14 Nov 2005 @ 7:04am

RIM's stupidity is unbelievable
As far as I remember, back in 2002 when RIM was
first sued by NTP and the court found RIM guilty of patent infringement, they were ordered to pay
*only* 23 million bucks in damages ...
Yet RIM decided to fight that court decision and
here we go - the meter is at 450 mil now (at least) and counting...
Talking about stupidity...
[ link to this | view in thread ]

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Feds To RIM: We Got Your Back, Just Keep The Crackberries Running

from the can't-be-without-that-hit dept

Reader Comments

Yeh, well . . .

Why Blackberry over other solutions?

Re: Why Blackberry over other solutions?

Re: Why Blackberry over other solutions?

Re: Why Blackberry over other solutions?