Following yesterday's surprising announcement that
patent troll firm NTP is taking portable computing pioneer Palm to court over alleged IP infringement, the PDA and smartphone manufacturer has fired back with a statement detailing its position on the matter. While Palm corroborates NTP's assertion that the latter company had previously approached it about licensing the patents in question, it points out that all seven of them are still undergoing re-examination by the US Patent and Trademark Office, and all signs point to them being ruled invalid once the inquiry is complete. Therefore, Sunnyvale-based Palm has promised to "defend itself vigorously against the attempted misuse of the patent and judicial systems," which is the diplomatic way of saying that NTP won't see one red cent unless they pry it from Palm's cold, dead hands. Since the
RIM / NTP fiasco took quite some time to wind its way through the courts, it seems that Palm is making the smart move here by stringing this along until the USPTO makes its final decision, but there's one thing it needs to bear in mind: NTP's got
half a billion dollars to blow on legal fees, and since it doesn't actually do anything besides sue people, it can focus all of its energy and resources on this amusing but unhealthy lawsuit addiction.
posted November 7th 2006 3:17PM
NTP owns the Patents. It is following the logical course of attempting to license the Patents first and then pursuing infringers in court.
If Palm wants to gamble, like Blackberry did, so be it.
I have a tungsten E2 and i can't even see how versamail even gets close to the NTP patents whatsoever.
Palm is HQ'd in Sunnyvale as of last year, not Milpitas.
2nd post in a row using "sez" instead of "says." Am I the only one bothered by that?
It troubles me also.
yes, U R tha only 1 bothered by dat.
haha, no! I just came to the comments section to mention that I thought it was incredibly lame too.
hey, it's scrooge mcduck! yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Patents are invalidated if you do not make efforts to enforce them. So NTP really has no choice. If they don't go after potential infringers, RIM may have a clause int he settlement that allows them to pay substantially less. Besides, RIM also tried to wait it out and it just escalated the price. Whether or not you agree with the motives/actions of NTP (I don't since they did not reduce to practice, did not risk their capital in a product and did not appear to appreciate the significance of their patents), this is the product of our intellectual property system. RIM was also to blame in rigging some software in a court demonstration and getting caught doing it. Palm does not have as deep a pocket as RIM so another effect of this action may be to depress the value of Palm, which would be to RIM's benefit. I guess RIM probably feels that others should share their pain.....
Are these patents related to Blackberry Connect or VersaMail, or just the ability to get email to a mobile device at all?
The NTP / RIM deal specifically states that it cannot be undone, regardless of patent invalidation (that's some nasty, nasty medicine for RIM to swallow...). Goes to show how important it became to RIM to make this extortion / lawsuit go away. Palm at least has the luxury of knowing that the final patent rulings are coming soon and that the odds are in favor of invalidation before Palm ever sets foot in court. Thats what Palm's decision must have come down to when they strategized about how to deal with this one.
Hope they are right.
Ha! My T|X *just* arrived, like, 30 mins ago and I've been playing with it and wondering why they didn't make a device this good years ago. (Well, they did, but I just got one...)
Software patents are so silly.
GO PALM!
Patents do not become invalidated if they are not enforced, unlike trademarks for example.
In any case, it's clear that after RIM's loss NTP is targeting every company with a mobile email device. Microsoft has already been hit with a lawsuit by NTP subsidiary Visto.
NTP has only one actual employee and produce nothing (the inventor's lawyer; the actual inventor is dead); it truly is a abuse of the patent system, which is intended to promote innovation, not as an avenue to extort money from innovators.
Actually, the inventor of wireless communication is not dead. he created the idea back in early 70's I believe. But, like many of that era, he wanted it free for the world to use. NTP bought up the company that did infact lay claim to the idea. The original coder/developer only got named credit.
Now with NTP, they sent a team to keep this guy buried in limbo with visits to offices. While visiting, they slipped in paperwork saying that he holds no interest in this matter. Remember, he's a trusting liberal ideologist, not a greedy lawyer. And because he got a visit, some meals paid for and a stipend, NTP was legally able to say they paid him for his efforts and he signed all rights away to his idea.
NTP never created anything. They are just venture capitalists that knew a good thing when they saw it and bought up patents from small companies that needed cash. Then NTP turned around and put a stranglehold on those patents and sometimes stabbed the very companies they claimed to help, in the back.
Sorry, I wish I could find the original interview from the developer during the RIM debacle. RIM was not an innocent victim, but NTP did unfairly rape them and the original developer.
The patent is on the idea of wireless communication- not email itself.