[Unreal32]

Well, this justifies me dropping my Skytel service, doesn't it? It's done. Goodbye, RIM... I hope you enjoy losing customers over this one. What a load of crap. I hope Handspring wins the suit and kicks your legal @$$.

[Unreal32]

Well, this justifies me dropping my Skytel service, doesn't it? It's done. Goodbye, RIM... I hope you enjoy losing customers over this one. What a load of crap. I hope Handspring wins the suit and kicks your legal @$$.

[Ed Hansberry]

I know this is a discussion board and meant to spur discussion, but it is the funniest thing to see PDA enthusiasts talk about patents. I saw tons of this when Xerox hit Palm with patent infringement on the Unistroke alphabet too. Patent law is very complex, and while it remains to be seen what the court will do on RIM's claim, it is pretty absurd to go "oh, too broad. RIM should have had patent lawyers" or "What? the treo doesn't look anyhing like a Blackberry" unless you are a patent lawyer or have extensive experience in patents. Looking at pictures doesn't begin to cut it.

[DrtyBlvd]

Don't forget the "We own Hyperlinks" patent arguments....

[jmulder]

Originally Posted by DrtyBlvd

Don't forget the "We own Hyperlinks" patent arguments....

IMO, there's a world of difference between the RIM situation and BT's. Regardless of where the patent is held (UK or US, Ravenswing), RIM received their patent and immediately (24 hours is pretty immediate in my book) filed suit against Handspring. BT held their patent and did not defend it until hyperlinks were as ubiquitous as snowflakes in a blizzard.

Odds are that Handspring knew it was going to be infringing on the patent, but banked on the US patent office denying the patent. Odds are also pretty good that RIM warned Handspring that they were infringing on a pending patent, but RIM could not take any action until the patent was granted.

I used to work for a company in the Casino Gaming industry that was in RIM's position. We warned our competitors about patents pending, they assumed we wouldn't get it, we did and sued them, and we forced our competitor to pull all of its infringing products out of its customers' casinos.

Needless to say, this didn't make us many friends among our competitor's cumsotmers, but it did propel us into a position of power in the industry.

-Jim

[PJE]

I can see RIM's point - the Handspring TREO keyboard is very similar to that on the BlackBerry... It all depends on how much RIM wants.

If RIM's position is to stop competition then RIM deserve to go bust. If on the otherhand they set a fair royalty rate for truely inovative technology (25c per machine seems fair) then I don't see the problem. Only time will tell.

I think RIM is getting nervous that they were the first into the market with a product and are about to be eaten alive by all the new PDA and SmartPhones.

Being first into a market - especially when it was already present in other forms - does not, in my opinion allow you to own the technology.

It is strange that RIM is only going after small companies...

My 2c

PJE

[kfluet]

Have you ever worked really hard on an idea only to have a business competitor copy you once you have it all worked out? I have and it is infuriating.

While I don't particularly like the RIM/Blackberry units, I have to say the first thing I thought when I saw the Handsprng when it came out was, "Wow, that really looks like the Blackberry. They are going to get their asses sued."

RIM, without question, came out with an innovative and new input method. I am not suprised that they are defending the pantent that protects their invention. The fact that it took a long time for their patent to be granted before they could take legal action isn't RIM's faut.

Of course I will be very unhappy if RIM chooses not to licence their design to other companies. The Snap-N-Type I am typing this into my iPAQ with wouldn't be the same.

[mjgroff]

RIM has every legal and moral right to protect their designs from companies that would rather copy a good idea, than come up with one of their own. Given the timeline here, it is totally clear Handspring copied RIM's form factor. This is not a case of two companies coming up with the same idea at the same time. If the Treo keyboard does infringe RIM's patent, RIM wont be able to choose any "punishment" it likes. The court will decide what is fair. As a public company, RIM owes it to its shareholders to try and get as much as they can. If we don't like how this turns out, we should blame the court.

With respect to the comment about RIM letting the techies write the patent, I am sure they use a crack team of patent lawyers. They have won more tha one patent infringment law suit in recent history. I am sure they would have gotten a much more general patent on the keyboard if they could get away with it. The fact that the patent is so specific shows that the U.S. patent system works (at tleast some of the time).

I say this as a fan of the free market economy. I am not a fan of RIM's devices. I would take my never-connected Casio e125 over a blackberry any day.

M.G.