A similar ruling was made in Germany last week.
RIM brought a so-called nullity action in the English High Court
over a patent owned by InPro, a patent holding firm based in
Luxembourg. InPro had claimed its UK patent was infringed by
certain BlackBerry products.
According to a statement from RIM today: "The English High Court
has now ruled in favor of RIM by deciding that all patent claims in
InPro’s UK Patent (designated under European Patent EP 0892947B1)
are invalid. InPro may seek permission to appeal the decision to
the Court of Appeal."
RIM added that the equivalent German Patent (asserted in
Germany) was found to be invalid on 27th January by the Nullity
Court in Munich, Germany.
This action is independent of the higher profile lawsuit against
RIM in the US. But RIM received good news on that front yesterday:
the USPTO has issued an initial indication that one of the US
patents being litigated is also invalid.
The USPTO ruling, according to RIM, relates to patent number
6,317,592, which contains five claims relevant to the long-running
litigation between RIM and patent holding company NTP Inc. It means
that the USPTO has now twice rejected all of the patents relevant
to the dispute.
RIM was found guilty of infringing on NTP’s patents in November
2002, when a jury awarded it damages of $53.7 million and imposed
an injunction on US sales of the product.
The injunction was stayed pending an appeal but its imposition
is due to be reconsidered by Judge James Spencer of the US District
Court for the District of Eastern Virginia in a hearing on 24th
February. If granted, US BlackBerry users would stop receiving
email on the move.
The US Department of Justice told the court that a shutdown
would have a damaging impact on Government workers. So NTP offered
to exempt Government workers. RIM argued that this was easier said
than done: there would be disruption, it warned. The Justice
Department heeded the warning and reiterated its concerns to the
court.
But the USPTO ruling gives some hope to RIM. A final ruling on
the patent could take months; but RIM says the initial ruling
continues a trend in which all of NTP’s arguments on the merits of
patentability of all of the relevant patents have been rejected by
the USPTO.
If the final rulings reflect the initial indications, NTP could
then appeal, and Judge Spencer is not planning to wait. He has
already indicated that he will not delay the imposition of an
injunction, if awarded.
