By Tony Smith for The
Register
This article has been reproduced from The Register, with
permission.
So said NTP co-founder Don Stout this past Friday, the Reuters
news agency reports.
According to Stout, RIM put its offer in writing on Thursday.
"They have responded yesterday in a manner which is unacceptable so
we're not negotiating," Stout said.
Stout's response is unlikely to be welcomed by Judge James
Spencer, who continues to preside over the legal battle between NTP
and RIM after the US Court of Appeals sent the case back to his
District Court. Judge Spencer has already ruled the original
settlement reached earlier this year by RIM and NTP as
unenforceable, and would like the two firms to reach a new
deal.
Stout's comments suggest that's unlikely, at least while the two
companies continue with brinkmanship tactics. RIM has the
advantage: the US Patent Office has said it doesn't believe NTP's
patents stand scrutiny; and the company itself claims it has
technology to side-step that intellectual property while it remains
valid.
That said, RIM hasn't said how it plans to work around the
problem. Presumably it's a more costly solution than the company
cares to admit, otherwise it would have implemented the fix already
and saved itself all the bother and cost of the spat with NTP. Only
the pressure of an injunction against offering patent-infringing
product is sufficient to justify the cost, and even then, RIM may
prefer to deal with NTP which is the outcome NTP appears to
want.
© The Register
2005
