Fifth NTP patent gets non-final rejection

We apologize in advance to those of you who are a bit tired of hearing every little twist and turn of "As The BlackBerry Turns," but we've made our bed and now we feel obligated to sleep in it by continuing our obsessive coverage until a definitive outcome is reached (our guess: 2012). In a move that probably surprised about five people, the US Patent and Trademark Office just issued a non-final rejection on the fifth, and last, of the NTP patents that are at the center of their epic lawsuit against RIM. Unfortunately for those "pushy" Canadians, the USPTO will not issue final rejections of the patents for several months, which means that they are still valid for the purposes of the federal district court injunction hearing on February 24. Stay tuned to this station for the next excruciatingly painful and insignificant episode of ATBT, which will probably air in the next few hours.

[Revrant @ Feb 1st 2006 8:22PM]

Well...Uh...Yay.

[bazald @ Feb 1st 2006 8:31PM]

It is a patent for a "car wheel", whatever that means.

[Dissent @ Feb 1st 2006 9:12PM]

NOBODY CARES, ENGADGET. REALLY. YOU EVEN SAID IT YOURSELVES. FFS, JUST STOP ALREADY!

[Mike @ Feb 1st 2006 9:25PM]

Actually, I care. I own and depend on my Blackberry so this is all very interesting to me. Keep it up.

[zverg @ Feb 1st 2006 10:06PM]

Did NTP patent the jog dial? What is that in the picture?

[Jeebus @ Feb 1st 2006 10:29PM]

"Pushy" Canadians? That's oxymoronic.

[just rewards @ Feb 2nd 2006 1:52AM]

RIM lobbyist bribing/threatening US senators to manipulate USPTO and legal system against NTP. Its literally un-american. RIM = Ruffians In Motion

[Ken @ Feb 2nd 2006 2:29AM]

It's nice to know that there are a few organizations left that still offer value for your money.

Unfortunately, the US Congress is at the top of the list.

[hiredgoons @ Feb 2nd 2006 7:11AM]

Ken,

LOL...that's funny as hell, I'm going to have to borrow that...

[EVU @ Feb 2nd 2006 9:55AM]

re#9: that is one seriously funny quote in light of abramoff's dirty dealings and what not.

I am a real supporter of NTP and have posted numerous times whenever Engadget writes about the litigation. But at this stage NTP is walking on very thin ice. If Spencer does not finalise the litigation proceedings and actually issue an injunction, RIM will WIN. (rhymes).

And NOBODY wants a "pushy" Canadian company to come up ahead right??? (j/k)

:)

[JS @ Feb 2nd 2006 10:35AM]

I dont get it. NTP made a debunk claim and now people want RIM to lose?

The justice system works quite clearly. You make an argument that is false and you lose...simple as that. Lawyers complicate things with their loopholes and other shenanigans but if its was really CEO of RIM v. CEO of NTP...RIM would clearly come out the victor and hopefully this retard for a judge will realize the social and economic impact on AMERICAN BUSINESS not to mention the many Government Agencies that rely on BB to communicate with each other (name the justice dept.)

And all this talk of "lobbying"...please come back to reality. Even if RIM gave a generous donations to some senator or congressmans campaign im sure that A) everyone would know about it and the news would broadcast it everywhere and B) senators or congressmen dont control the USPTO and dont really have any influence over it except the "hey, see what you can do for me" line that will more than likely get them nowhere.

[bill @ Feb 2nd 2006 12:12PM]

Look, RIM and NTP both had their day in court. RIM was caught presenting a faked demo - thats not good. And they lost the case based on the merits of the patent. Not politics, not lawyering bs, just the justice system.

And while the NTP patents may eventually die, the current rejection really is standard practice, and the odds are still in favor of some claim surviving and hitting RIM pretty hard.

[Rick @ Feb 2nd 2006 3:40PM]

If the USPTO is finding all NTP's patents invalid, why are they going to wait months for their final ruling? Especially when this judge may/may not issue an injunction that could waste even more of everyone's time and money when the USPTO decision will render all this moot, and everyone can get back to thumbing to their heart's content!

[bill @ Feb 2nd 2006 5:25PM]

Because we don't know that they are going to find any of NTP's patents invalid, let alone all of them. You do realize that RIM made an invalidity argument in the trial and the judge rejected it, right?

[Jeebus @ Feb 2nd 2006 7:56PM]

To those whom use a Blackberry:

I'm just trying to get some prespective about people's opinions on this whole court order and the threat of the BlackBerry service being severed in the US. Wouldn't it just be a big inconvenience if BB's had to cease their service, thus making you have to switch services and get a new device, etc...?

I'm not quite sure which is "better" since RIM losing would be the right thing (patent-wise, legally), but RIM winning the case would mean the continuation of the service despite all this hoopla about national security and whatnot.

So, to the avid BB user, what's your opinion?

[SoopahMan @ Feb 3rd 2006 10:24AM]

If someone breaks into your house and steals your TV, do they deserve it because you poorly attempted to stop them? No.

Since the USPTO is a (recovering) mess and the US thinks it's leading the "Information Age" yet can't figure out how to legislate anything about intellectual property, what the judge ought to do is review the patent invalidation proceedings, and recognize NTP doesn't have a leg to stand on. He can't decide to just wait until the invalidation process is complete, so he ought to declare himself too biased after reviewing the ongoing invalidations, and excuse himself from the case. That can throw the case back into the long queue, hopefully giving it all enough time for NTP to be proven fraudulent on all counts, and the whole thing can be handled properly at last.

[Matt @ Feb 3rd 2006 11:56AM]

Hey Engadget?
How about creating a Section for the Blackberry Lawsuit so that a reader can read just the posts made on the lawsuit. Seems to me to be a pretty good way for readers to quickly scan (in order) the major news events relating to this lawsuit.

It has been tough to keep current with this issue through the regular media, since you have the content already, seems to be pretty easy function to add