RIM Loses Appeal To US Supreme Court

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/27/technology/27berry.html?adxnnl=1&amp;adxnnlx=1130414582-Txkm+RWvlw+yiP/hVSUkLQ">http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/27/technology/27berry.html?adxnnl=1&amp;adxnnlx=1130414582-Txkm+RWvlw+yiP/hVSUkLQ</a><br /><br /><i>"The maker of BlackBerry e-mail devices lost an emergency Supreme Court appeal on Wednesday that sought to suspend a long-running patent suit against the company. The company, Research In Motion, is appealing a patent infringement verdict to the high court and sought to freeze lower court proceedings while the appeal was pending. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. denied the company's request for a stay, without comment."</i><br /><br />This move puts RIM one step closer to halting sales of the popular BlackBerry devices in the US. A <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051021/tc_nm/rim_dc">Yahoo! News article last week</a> has additional information. My understanding is everyting revolves around the push technology RIM has implemented.

[arb]

This is the kind of case that makes you sick to the stomach... US-PTO and in general Patents based in US should all be reviewed. Companies or people who have an "idea" need to design a working model of the "idea" they have before it should be approved.

NTP doesn't have any "real" assets, no product to replace BB, and no real "right" to destroy is valuable business tool that many businessmen/women and government officals use on a daily basis. Although I believe that the Chief Judge doesn't care about this issue because like you said, it will only effect consumers, not government users.

Unlike people who want to sue Apple over thier iPods, I think the best way to resolve this issue is not for consumer groups to sue RIM but sue NTP. NTP will shutdown a billion dollar industry not only here in the US, but globally because all people around the world that use BB would not be able to use it here....

I for one would be in favor of a class action lawsuit against NTP for potienal loss of business and back lash from customers that I have recommeded the BB for their business. I would favor a CAL against NTP to the extent that is burns them to the ground and expose thier financials to find any dirty of shady business practices.

NTP must go down. Never to surface or see the light of day again.

Thank you,

[Gerard]

Geez arb, felt so strongly about it you had to post it twice?

Indeed, some of the shenanigans passed off as patentable by the USPO are way off base. Patent law in your country needs a good kick in the bum. But it won't happen, yet, because the mindset prevailing is that any schmoe with a notion has the right to be a billionaire. It's the American Dream, right? Oh, and I thought the real American Dream was that you could work hard and earn an honest living, without fear of unjust laws and rash acts against you and yours by the government. But no, the government wants to eliminate privacy while encouraging US companies to dominate the world, so forget the old Dream, it's been replaced.

[arb]

&lt;-- hit the submit button twice heehee.

But seriously, I use a BB myself and although Microsoft is releasing a Push email system too, and Palm has got some kind of Push with Good, it isn't Blackberry. I haven't looked into other providers yet only because my customer base for BB are several thousand. That is alot of BB to replace and have companies replace. I am looking out for all consultants best interest, because somehow this might just come back around to bite us in the rear-end.

For now, just for new clients that are requesting wireless email, we have been evalutating MS Push.

[Jeff Rutledge]

Double post fixed.

[farnold]

Hm, arb, I fear I don't share your view there. Just because one company holding a particular patent w/o does make a commercial offerng out of it, doesn't mean it's free for everyone else to do exactely this. And just because I haven't been caught stealing in the past, doesn't allow me to continue doing it, just because I started to be used to the saving.

IMHO, if Blackberry illegally uses others patents they should be made to pay two dollars for every dollar they made. And if they end up broke? Sorry, I don't feel sorry at all. They should have done their homework.

[aroma]

and Palm has got some kind of Push with Good, it isn't Blackberry.

Good isn't just Palm. It's much more device independant than that. While it can't be ran on just any device, it does run on PocketPC PE devices, SmartPhones, Palms, and even a new Nokia phone. (They actually support a lot more non-Palm devices than Palm devices) We have used both Blackberry devices, and GoodLink, and no, Good isn't Blackberry, it's better.

- Aaron

[phs]

The Forum's title doesn't seem to be entirely accurate. RIM did not lose its appeal to the Supreme Court (not yet anyway). What the article says is that RIM "sought to freeze lower court proceedings while the appeal was pending. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. denied the company's request for a stay, without comment." So it was the request for a stay that was denied, not the appeal itself.