NTP Uses Visto To Turn Up The Heat On RIM
from the i'll-pay-you-to-be-my-friend dept
Visto, a smaller rival to Research In Motion in the mobile e-mail market, said today it had licensed the patents of NTP, the company involved in a long-running patent dispute with RIM. Like its deal with Good Technology, NTP has taken an equity stake in Visto. It's not clear if it got the stake in exchange for licensing the patents, but the wording of the Visto press release makes it sound like the stake was acquired separately. If this is the case, NTP would be propping up both Good and Visto, essentially giving them money to license the patents in hopes of turning up the pressure on RIM to settle. The Patent Office continues to move toward rejecting NTP's patents, while things look grim for RIM in the courts. We noted with the Good deal that NTP's investment seemed a little fishy; so does its taking a stake in Visto. Clearly NTP wants to force a settlement with RIM as quickly as it can, before the Patent Office acts definitively. That doesn't engender much faith that its patents are actually valid.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
I can guarantee you the reason that RIM has not reached an agreement with NTP has nothing to do with money (RIM has already set aside $450 million, and setting aside another $550 million would have a minimal impact on the bottom line). It has everything to do with what happens if the patents are invalid. I am certain that RIM would want it's money back in that case and wants wording to that effect in any agreement they sign with NTP. Naturally, NTP would be opposed to any such clause.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Good... good... (slowly with evil bug voice)
It'll cause change in the patent system sooner than later, so we can be done over with it finally.
A system that allows people to "register and lock" random casual ideas and extort people and business to pay ransom for using said casual ideas - why is it EVEN not called off yet?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
RIMvsNTP Your Dec. 14th "Very Fishey" Attn: Carlo
Re your Dec. 14th to wit:
Contributed by Carlo on Wednesday, December 14th, 2005 @ 06:03PM
from the i'll-pay-you-to-be-my-friend dept.
Visto, a smaller rival to Research In Motion in the mobile e-mail market, said today it had licensed the patents of NTP, the company involved in a long-running patent dispute with RIM. Like its deal with Good Technology, NTP has taken an equity stake in Visto. It's not clear if it got the stake in exchange for licensing the patents, but the wording of the Visto press release makes it sound like the stake was acquired separately. If this is the case, NTP would be propping up both Good and Visto, essentially giving them money to license the patents in hopes of turning up the pressure on RIM to settle. The Patent Office continues to move toward rejecting NTP's patents, while things look grim for RIM in the courts. We noted with the Good deal that NTP's investment seemed a little fishy; so does its taking a stake in Visto. Clearly NTP wants to force a settlement with RIM as quickly as it can, before the Patent Office acts definitively. That doesn't engender much faith that its patents are actually valid.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
I can't imagine the judge issuing an injunction while the patents' validity is in doubt, though Judge Spencer seems to suggest this is possible (says he won't wait for the patent office.)
The Patent Office has said they are dedicating more resources to the review, so maybe Judge Spencer will have access to the patent office review findings by February-not sure how fast the patent office can be.
RIMM's position seems to be to wait for the review, though comments by Gartner and some customers in the press seem to suggest this may harm sales of Blackberries and encourage people to look at other offerings in the interim.
[ link to this | view in thread ]