RIM and Motorola suing each other for patent infringement

We're not sure Motorola's turnaround strategy should involve picking legal fights with an undisputed market leader, but now that CEO Greg Brown's personally in charge, it looks like the gloves are off -- Moto's just filed a lawsuit claiming that RIM infringed on seven of its patents in various BlackBerry 8000-series devices and the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The move comes as a response to a patent suit filed by RIM on Saturday, which claims that Motorola infringed several of its patents, demanded "exorbitant" royalties for Moto patents covering wireless communications, and refused to pay royalties on RIM patents. We'd say this one will drag on forever and then settle (like a certain other RIM patent case), but with Motorola's fortunes fading fast and no suitors in the wings, this just may prove to be one burden too many.

Disclaimer: Nilay's a lawyer, but he's not your lawyer, and this post isn't meant to be legal advice or analysis.

[Jason @ Feb 18th 2008 1:29PM]

Motorola describes the very water they're drowning in.

[E71 @ Feb 18th 2008 8:02PM]

GO MOTOROLA! Woooooh!

[John Johnson @ Feb 18th 2008 1:32PM]

They should just say "Hey, take us"

[brendan @ Feb 18th 2008 1:36PM]

title says RIM suing Moto, article says Moto suing RIM. Who's suing who?

[brendan @ Feb 18th 2008 1:40PM]

Ok, its been changed...

[Kalen @ Feb 18th 2008 1:39PM]

RIM Sued Motorola on Saturday, so now Motorola is suing them back.

[derX @ Feb 18th 2008 1:49PM]

RIM sues Moto.

Moto sues RIM.

They're only bickering because they're in love.


.....or because RIM seriously wants Moto to fail. Either works.

[Natedog @ Feb 18th 2008 5:22PM]

Sounds like love to me. Or something.

[Pete @ Feb 18th 2008 1:53PM]

The entire reason that large companies retain large patent portfolios is for just this sort of instance. Consider it insurance - and regardless of Motorola's pitfalls recently they do hold quite a bit of intellectual property (aka a big stick). It is kinda early to jump to conclusions... but it is very possible that Motorola has a bigger stick on this one, and that RIM bit off more than they can chew. Then again i'm not a patent lawyer.

[oGMo @ Feb 18th 2008 2:06PM]

No, large companies hold large portfolios to *defend* against this sort of thing. Usually it comes down to who holds the bigger stack.

It's a sign of the end when large companies who are losing money and business who start to sue others.

[Kamokazi @ Feb 18th 2008 1:56PM]

It's Blackberry ENTERPRISE Server, not Exchange server. (It does interface with Microsoft Exchange Server.) Unless there is some other product out there I am not aware of. The original article appears to have screwed it up, not Nilay.

[Johan S @ Feb 18th 2008 2:56PM]

RIM battling Motorola for the title of Last Place.

Good luck.

[Josh @ Feb 18th 2008 3:06PM]

Hey, i actually like RIM... i might be a bit partial because my motorola is a total POS and i have really been tempted to just throw it off a bridge for the satisfaction of knowing it will never screw me again.

[Blaktornado @ Feb 18th 2008 3:18PM]

The image contradicts the title.

It says RIM and Motorola sue each other, yet the picture quite clearly makes it look like RIM is suing motorola, and not the mutual sue it is. Curses you and your biased-ness!

[phanbouy @ Feb 18th 2008 3:24PM]

no sad face moto logo? at least give it a black eye...

[Adam Zey @ Feb 18th 2008 3:47PM]

These types of cases seem to usually just end with a cross-licensing agreement. That is, Motorola gets to use the RIM patents in exchange for letting RIM use the Motorola patents.

If that fails, my bets are on RIM crushing Motorola.

[philipbarrett @ Feb 18th 2008 6:31PM]

Hey Motorola let's move these deckchairs...