Whew! RIM Settles BlackBerry Suit

BlackBerry users, good news.

Research In Motion and NTP have settled their long-standing legal battle, with RIM paying NTP $612.5 million to settle all of NTP's patent claims against it, says Stephen Lawson of IDG News Service.

NTP has granted RIM an unfettered right to continue its business, including its BlackBerry business, according to a RIM statement. All terms of the agreement have been finalized, and the case against RIM was dismissed by a court order this afternoon.

The agreement relates to all patents owned and controlled by NTP and covers all of RIM's products, the statement said. It eliminates the need for any further court proceedings or decisions, RIM said.

RIM made the deal to get the dispute out of the way, said Jim Balsillie, chairman and co-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RIM, in Waterloo, Ontario.

"The absolute motivation was really to give clarity and certainty to all our ecosystems so we can really start our new [fiscal] year, which starts Monday ... with no more of the noise and distraction of this suit," Balsillie said on a conference call after the deal and RIM's fourth-quarter earnings were announced, Stephen reported.

Balsillie said the settlement covers all partners and all technologies. "It was very important to get the scope we wanted," he said.

The case had threatened to shut down service to most of the millions of U.S. BlackBerry users. NTP was seeking an injunction against RIM in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

At a hearing last week, Judge James Spencer did not rule on the injunction but slammed the companies for failing to settle the case. RIM had said it had a workaround for the RIM service that would steer clear of NTP's patents.

For more background on this story, go here.