The legal saga involving NTP’s patents covering Research-In-Motion’s BlackBerry (R) technology appears to be over. According to news reports, RIM has settled the BlackBerry Lawsuit for $450M (US).
The lawsuit did produce what appears to be an expansion of U.S. patent laws to cover infringing activity that partially occurs on foreign soil. However, the settlement leaves a number of open questions regarding application of the newly expanded theory of liability.
Links:
- CBC Report
- Discussion of the Federal Circuit Decision
- Canadian Government Intervention
- Proposed legislation to better codify and delineate the Federal Circuit’s decision in RIM v. NTP.
NOTE: The drawing above was used in RIM's brief at the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals to graphically show how a substantial portion of the 'infringing' activity occurred on foreign soil. The Court rejected RIM's argument that activity across the border could not create liability under the U.S. patent laws.
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