Research In Motion Ltd., facing litigation that may halt its BlackBerry e-mail service in the United States, is this week fighting a case to protect its technology in Britain.
The company is asking a London court to invalidate a British patent held by Luxembourg-based Inpro Licensing Sarl, which Inpro says is related to the relay of data between BlackBerry phones and pagers and the Internet.
At risk in the dispute is RIM's service to around 375,000 BlackBerry subscribers in Britain, about 10 per cent of its global total. If the Waterloo, Ont., company loses the case, it may be forced, along with licensees such as T-Mobile International AG, to stop selling or supporting the devices in Britain, according to lawyers representing the companies.
"The patent is for a simple idea, which we say is either anticipated or obvious," RIM's lawyer, Antony Watson, told the High Court yesterday at the start of a five-day hearing.
Inpro, a licensing firm that is suing RIM for patent infringement in Britain and Germany, may be trying to exploit the company's "perceived weakness" in failing to resolve long-running patent litigation in the U.S., Peter Misek, a Canaccord Capital Corp. analyst in Toronto who rates the shares "buy" and doesn't own them, said in a note to clients yesterday.
A proposed $450-million (U.S.) settlement between RIM and NTP Inc. of Arlington, Va., which has won a court ruling that the BlackBerry device infringes on its intellectual property, fell apart in June. A U.S. judge is currently considering whether that agreement is still enforceable. If it's not, U.S. District Judge James Spencer in Richmond, Va., will hold hearings on whether to shut down the service in the U.S.
"While we believe there is little risk of legal success for Inpro winning the case based on our discussions, the cases in Europe shed light on why RIM is battling so fiercely with NTP," Mr. Misek said. "A slew of copycat lawsuits could cost the company millions unless it can show little willingness to give into greenmail."
RIM's stock has fallen 21 per cent this year amid declining growth and concern about how the NTP case will be resolved.
