RIM, NTP Reach Settlement

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

In breaking news, after a four-year legal struggle, Research in Motion (RIM) and NTP have agreed to a settlement, according to NTP lawyer James Wallace. Thus, RIM has avoided a threatened blackout due to a possible injunction.

Research In Motion and NTP have agreed to settle the patent dispute over the BlackBerry device for $612.5 million, the companies announced in a press release on Friday. Under the agreement, RIM will receive a license to NTP’s patents going forward, they said. Source: News.com

We Say: The advantage has been moving toward RIM of late as more patents were invalidated by the USPTO. Still, the agreement took a long time. Apparently RIM had put away $450 million dollars in escrow for a settlement, so it will record the additional $162.5 million in its fourth-quarter results. RIM is expected to hold a conference call later today to discuss more details of the settlement.