Mformation
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RIM escapes $147.2 million hit as Mformation appeal ends in victory
RIM has successfully appealed its patent infringement verdict against Mformation, letting the company off the hook for $147.2 million in damages. It was originally ordered to pay the stack of cash after a jury found that it had violated a remote management patent, but a California judge has overturned the decision after reexamining the evidence. Mformation still has the scope to appeal and thereby cause a fresh trial to begin from scratch, which could be fun.
RIM slapped with $147.2 million in damages from Mformation patent lawsuit (update: RIM response)
RIM just keeps taking hard knocks in the patent arena. Just days after Nokia had its turn piling on extra infringement claims, device management developer Mformation Technologies has won a hefty $147.2 million verdict against RIM for allegedly violating a remote management patent. The damages amount to $8 for every BlackBerry linked up to a BlackBerry Enterprise Server up to a certain point -- no small impact for a company whose lifeblood is business. About the only reprieve is an escape from future penalties, which would most certainly have soured the recovery efforts for a company already on the ropes. The crew from Waterloo hasn't yet responded to the verdict, but it's hard to picture the company leaving those kinds of damages to sit without an appeal. Update: RIM has issued a statement in response to the verdict, and it's unsurprisingly putting forward motions that it hopes would overturn the verdict. It's also keen to point out that issues like the obviousness of the patent haven't been settled, which it hopes would deflate Mformation's case.
