You just know the Crack-berry addicted patent clerk that gave RIM respite was all like “They’ll pry my always-on email out of my cold, dead hands.” The USPTO sent a letter to NTP essentially contesting their patents and stating that they will probably overturn them next year.
“It was a resounding rejection of NTP’s position,” James Balsillie, Research In Motion’s chairman and co-chief executive, said by telephone. “The jig is up. I think the world is now starting to realize what is happening.”
I’m all for the security and recouping of R&D costs patent law affords, but patent trolls like NTP make it hard on everyone. If anything, RIM should be hounding everyone else in the world about email on the go patents, but they’re not. They’re being good techie citizens, at least until they go bankrupt due to extensive competition and become a lawsuit spewing pustule. Ah… the circle of life.
Patent office backs RIM [ArsTechnica]
