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Judge overturns $147.2m RIM patent case

By ITWeb
Johannesburg, 10 Aug 2012

Judge overturns $147.2m RIM patent case

Research In Motion (RIM) will not have to pay Mformation Technology the original $147.2 million patent infringement penalty awarded to the patent farm, The Inquisitr reports.

The Blackberry smartphone and tablet manufacturer appealed the original decision and a US District Court judge on Wednesday overturned the original verdict, finding that BlackBerry devices did not infringe on the Mformation Technologies patent based on provided information.

Judge James Ware also granted RIM's motion for a new trial if his ruling is overturned. Under his ruling, the original settlement is permanently tossed out and should Mformation Technologies file a likely appeal, they will be battling over a new settlement.

MFormation sued RIM in 2008, claiming the BlackBerry manufacturer had infringed its patent for a process that remotely manages a device over a wireless network, Tech Week Europe says.

In July, the court ordered RIM to pay an $8 royalty for every BlackBerry device connected to RIM's enterprise server software, resulting in a total bill of $147.2 million.

RIM had argued that its opponent's claims were invalid because the processes were already being used when MFormation made its patent application. Judge Ware agreed with the Canadian manufacturer, which welcomed the ruling.

Mformation, which helps companies manage their smartphone inventory, said it is assessing its legal options and will determine its next steps shortly, Technology Spectator notes.

“Mformation is deeply disappointed that the court would overturn a jury verdict after a month of trial including a week of thoughtful deliberation by the jury,” chief executive Todd DeLaughter said in an e-mail.

RIM shares rose more than 5% early on Thursday to $8.03 on the Nasdaq, but pared gains later in the day and were up 1.1% at $7.70 at 1500 ET. Its Toronto-listed shares were up 1.6%.

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