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NTP to sue major US wireless carriers |
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Written by Felix Da Silva (fdasilva@bitnip.com)
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Friday, 14 September 2007 |
 Last week NTP sued the four largest wireless
carriers in the U.S. alleging that without a license to
NTP's patents, we should not be able to use smart phones that
can send and receive wireless e-mail.
If you didn't know, NTP managed to extract $612.5 million
from Research In Motion (RIM) by successfully convincing a jury that RIM infringed on
the patents, and then playing defense for four years while the appeals process
ran its course. NTP owns the patents for a wireless e-mail system but they never developed it.
They are now coming after the carriers, arguing
that the services those carriers offer violate NTP's patents, and it deserves
damages, royalties, and the right to bring wireless e-mail service in this
country to a halt unless the carriers license its patents.
If my limited knowledge of the RIM case is correct, NTP managed to extract that much money from RIM was because of the threat of an injunction which would halt all services that the Blackberry provided. It would be a disaster if a permanent injunction were granted which forced RIM to negotiate a settlement outside of the courts.
However, this time around, it might be tougher for NTP to extract money from these carriers as two months after the RIM settlement, the ruling in the case of MercExchange v. eBay, changed the way injunctions are given out.
After that landmark ruling, a permanent injunction against the use of a patent does not automatically
follow from a finding of infringement. The ruling now allows the courts more
leeway on whether to grant the injunction or just award damages. If an award of damages is sufficient, then it would more likely be that than an injunction.
This gives the carriers more time to fight this case and keep appealing without the fear of a permanent injunction if they do not succeed.
Also, NTP's patents are found to be invalid by the USPTO as prior art has been found. In the mid-1980s, before
Campana received his patents, Norwegian telecom company Telenor published documentation
describing a wireless e-mail system. NTP is currently appealing the preliminary ruling of the Patent Office that its
patents are invalid.
This is an interesting case to keep an eye on as there will most definitely going to be a fight put up by these major carriers. I can't wait to see what arguments these carriers will come up with. Ah, patent fights, are there anything more exciting than this?
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