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the person - lives in Toronto, CA with his wife and three children, and works as director of community with PlanetEye Inc.

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Wednesday, January 18

Should RIM Give the $$ and Run?

by Mark Evans on Wed 18 Jan 2006 07:49 AM EST

If you're Research in Motion and you're trying to make a nasty patent dispute with NTP go away, do you jump at a settlement offer of $125-million and 5.7% of future sales in the U.S.? That's the question facing RIM after NTP filed court documents in Virginia recently outlining its latest demands. RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie has said the company is willing to pay a 0.5% royalty over the seven-year life of the patents,but NTP brushes aside that offer inadequate. So what now? While it appears both sides are talking - judging by the radio silence recently - it is also evident RIM and NTP are willing to take this dispute right to the edge. Personally, I can't believe it will be taken that far but as more NTP's patents are overturned by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the more RIM must be emboldened. Stay tuned, this is going to be real good.

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