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RIM, NTP Settle Their Differences -- For $612.5 Million
from the innovation-rewarded-indeed dept
As expected, RIM has settled its patent suit with NTP by paying the company $612.5 million to settle all the claims against it, and for a full license of NTP's patents. Certainly RIM is glad to get this behind it, also noting today that the uncertainty of the case's outcome will hit the current quarter's earnings. The license covers all of NTP's patents, and puts not only RIM, but also its carrier and device partners in the clear. While the court case against RIM has been dismissed, the one thing that nobody's talking about is what will happen should the Patent Office finally reject all of NTP's patents and its appeals prove fruitless -- does RIM gets its $600 million back and an "I'm sorry"? Update by Mike: Looks like the Wall Street Journal is one of the few who actually found out about what happens down the road -- and have updated the link above to say there is no contingency for return payments or a new lawsuit, should the USPTO eventually find the patents invalid -- as has been looking increasingly likely. In fact, RIM's Jim Balsillie says he would have paid more to have such a contingency, but it appears NTP wasn't interested (suggesting that even they know how weak their stance is on these patents). The overall deal may have made business sense in the end for RIM (whose stock is way up, and whose sales will likely improve without the uncertainty over its head), but it's highlighted in very real terms what a travesty the patent system has become these days. The company that does nothing gets rich and the company that innovated is slowed down.
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Re: Calling angry dude
Stupidity and silly arguments are all yours, not mine...
But I can fix some of your twisted notions with some hard facts...
>Should science fiction writers from the 50's be >given a patent of jetpacks and flying cars?
Perhaps you don't know, but Arthur Clark first proposed idea of geostationary communications satellite - an idea certainly worthy of a patent by any standard.
He pretended to regret about not patenting it, but actually he was smart enough to see that a 20 year patent term won't do it - by the time it is possible to launch such a satellite into orbit the patent would long expire...
Another example is laser: There are at least 2 major patents on this: Townes's patent and Gould's patent. The Towne's patent issued quickly and by the time lasers were mass manufacturtee almost expired - the total roylaties collected were a meager 1 mil. Gould's patent was delayed by the PTO (none of it was Gould's fault) by 17 years.
So when laser manufacturers learned about just issued patent and request for royalties 17 years after laser ibvention they just went nuts, and the laser patent war started...
Read about it, it's a facinating story...
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