Motorola, Research In Motion settle patent dispute

Motorola Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. said they have settled a more than two-year-old patent dispute that had each claiming the other was infringing on the others patents.
The origins of the dispute began when a 2003 agreement between the two companies expired in late 2007. Failed talks between the two mobile device giants led to the filing and counter-filing of legal claims in early 2008.
Motorola was originally seeking a ruling that it did not infringe on five RIM patents, including two that were related to the Moto Q device, and also charged that RIM’s Curve and Pearl devices, among others, violated seven Motorola patents, including software that links devices and corporate servers.
RIM, in turn, claimed that Motorola infringed on nine patents and was demanding “exorbitant” royalties for its patents.
In resolving the dispute, both companies said they have come to a “long-term, intellectual property cross-licensing arrangement involving the parties receiving cross-licenses of various patent rights, including patent rights relating to certain industry standards and certain technologies, such as 2G, 3G, 4G, 802.11 and wireless e-mail.”
The companies also said in a statement that they would transfer certain patents to the other.
As for any fiscal consideration, it appears Motorola made out in the case as it will receive an up-front payment and ongoing royalties from RIM.
A recent report from Gartner showed that RIM was the No. 4 device maker in worldwide sales during the first quarter of the year selling more than 10.5 million devices and garnering 3.4% of the market. Motorola sold just over 9.5 million devices garnering 3% of the worldwide mobile device market.
RIM’s Blackberry OS was the No. 2 best selling smartphone OS worldwide during the first quarter of the year holding 19.4% of the market, while Google Inc.’s Android OS, which Motorola is relying heavily on to boost its sagging fortunes, held 9.6% of the market.
Motorola’s stock was up more than 3% in early Friday trading at $7.06 per share, while RIM’s stock was up slightly to $59.28 per share.