RIM Settlement Offer Rejected

3:21 pm on November 30, 2005 | Category: Business, Law, Mobile Devices

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BlackBerry manufacturer, Research in Motion got more bad news today, when an American judge dismissed their attempt to enforce a $450 million settlement with patent holding firm, NTP Inc.

RIM shares on the TSX (Toronto Stock eXchange) dropped $5.14 (6.8%) to C$70.86 before trading was frozen for the day.

Judge James Spencer, who presided over the case, ruled that “the parties do not have a valid and enforceable settlement agreement.” Spencer will now have to decide whether to permanently block all sales of existing BlackBerry devices within the United States.

Analysts are now predicting that RIM won’t be able to settle this dispute unless they are willing to make a massive settlement offer as high as $1 billion. Whether RIM is willing to shell out this kind of money remains to be seen.

By fighting the settlement tooth and nail, as they have been for the past several months, NTP is taking a major risk. If RIM doesn’t make another settlement offer and the sales of BlackBerry devices in the US are forced to an end, NTP won’t get any money, and will be forced to strike out on their own to make a comparable device with little financial backing.

If NTP does continue on this path of stubbornness, it is quite possible that they could end up crippling RIM, but ultimately destroying themselves in the process.

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    1. [...] If RIM loses this critical case, the worst-case scenario is that 375,000 BlackBerry users in the UK could soon find themselves without service. It is more likely, however, that the company would be forced into a cash settlement by their attacker. Of course, there’s no guarantee of this happening, as we have seen with NTP’s lawsuit in the United States. [...]

      Pingback by RIM BlackBerry Faces UK Patent Lawsuit » Telecommunications Industry News — May 24, 2006 #

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