A View on View :: Should RIM Give the $$ and Run?

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Should RIM Give the $$ and Run?

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

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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Re: Should RIM Give the $$ and Run?

by Anonymous on Wed 18 Jan 2006 12:18 PM EST | Permanent Link

For RIM, it's a matter of weighing the remaining legal costs and bad press against the settlement amount. Barring a "try on the glove incident", NTP doesn't really have much left going for them. Note, NTP has already dropped their upfront cash demand significantly. What I'd like to happen is RIM counter-sue for damages. Otherwise, NTP will simply line up some more lawsuits against other opponents.
-Randy Charles Morin
http://www.kbcafe.com/iBLOGthere4iM

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