NTP patent voided; RIM awaits fate Friday

Research in Motion today got news from the U.S. Patent in trademark office that is had rejected another patent central to the ongoing litigation between itself and holding company NTP. Though good news for the embattled maker of the popular BlackBerry messaging devices, it may not be enough to stave off an injunction that could shut down its e-mail service as soon as Friday.

U.S. District Judge James Spencer will hear arguments in the case on Friday, specifically on NTP’s petition for an injunction that would stop sales of all BlackBerry devices in the U.S. and shut down the e-mail delivery service that powers the millions of devices already on the market. RIM isn’t the only one fighting desperately to prevent that scenario from happening. The U.S. Justice Department has tried to make the case that the a shutdown of RIM’s service would have detrimental effect on government workers and has asked the Judge to exempt federal employees from any injunction--a request that Spencer turned down today.

RIM, however, claims to have a back-up plan, a software “workaround” that would allow it to continue offering service to its customers. RIM has revealed few details about this supposed workaround, but if the court grants NTP’s injunction RIM is expected to present that option before the court.

Despite the legal mire RIM has faced in last year, it didn’t seem to be having trouble selling its BlackBerrys worldwide. According to data from Gartner, RIM shipped 3.2 million BlackBerry devices last year, beating out Palm as the top maker of PDA-type devices in 2005. But RIM’s problems have been exacerbated in recent months as the possibility of the injunction appears all the more likely. RIM has been fighting the battle on two fronts, in the federal courts and with the U.S. Patent Office. Slowly it has been gaining ground with the patent authority, pushing NTP’s patents through various stages of nullification. It also succeeded in an appeals court in getting voided nine of the original NTP 16 patents in question. The courts, however, are moving far faster than patent officials, and despite RIM’s requests to delay any further court action until after the Patent Office makes its final rulings, Spencer has indicated he wants the case to move forward.

Meanwhile, RIM’s competitors have jumped at the opportunity to fill in any service gap an injunction would leave in its wake. Visto last week at the 3GSM World Congress announced the latest version of its push e-mail software, this one optimized specifically for the enterprise customers that make up RIM’s customer base. Other operators like Good Technology and Seven have said they have signed up numerous customers fleeing RIM.