WATERLOO, Ontario-Research In Motion Ltd. received good news on both sides of the Atlantic this week, scoring patent victories in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
The BlackBerry maker said the English High Court invalidated all of the patent claims by Luxembourg-based InPro Licensing S.a.r.l. The announcement comes on the heels of Monday’s news that a federal patent court in Germany also rejected all of InPro’s claims.
InPro may appeal both decisions.
Perhaps more importantly for the Canadian developer, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued another “non-final” rejection of a patent at the heart of RIM’s high-profile legal battle with NTP Inc. The USPTO has issued preliminary rejections on all five patents in question, and has publicly stepped up its final review of the patents.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Court Judge James Spencer has set a hearing for Feb. 24 to consider an injunction that could kill service to U.S. BlackBerry users. Such move is highly unlikely given the BlackBerry’s ubiquity among U.S. executives and federal workers; in fact, the U.S. Department of Justice this week expressed concerns over a potential shutdown in a brief filed with the court.
Spencer has publicly indicated he won’t wait for a final ruling by the patent office, noting NTP would have at least two avenues to appeal final rejections. Although RIM is working to bide its time in court-in the hope the patent office comes to the rescue-analysts believe the company will be forced to settle to avoid a shutdown.
