One of the intriguing aspects of RIM's patent dispute with NTP is how NTP - a corporate shell headed by a single lawyer - has somehow managed to hold its own in the communications game. For whatever reason, RIM has not counter-punched as effectively as it should have over the past four years when it comes to P.R. A huge exception was the editorial written by co-CEO Jim Balsillie in the Wall St. Journal earlier this week (the National Post reprinted it). As a result, it seems strange to see RIM's CFO, Dennis Kavelman, blamed media coverage for spooking potential customers. During a call with analysts to discuss the fourth-quarter forecast, Kavelman said reports "playing up" the dispute with NTP prompted a second downgrade in subscriber growth. Let's be clear here. It was not the media that promoted Gartner Group recently told large corporate clients to consider alternatives if a U.S. judge imposes an injunction next month that could stop Blackberry service and sales. Gartner saw an opportunity to attract some media attention - and sell some reports - and pushed it out to the media. At the same time, NTP's Don Stout has become increasingly media-friendly. It's hard to go a day without seeing Stout quoted by a reporter in Canada and the U.S. For the media, this is a juicy story with drama, cool technology, interesting personalities and lots of money in play. If RIM wants media coverage to stop affecting Blackberry sales, it should reach a settlement with NTP sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, RIM and NTP both seem to be willing to go as far as its take to pursue their positions.  As Balsillie said in the Wall St. Journal, RIM has licensing deals with dozens of companies so you have to think RIM is confident it will eventually prevail. If RIM wants to deal with negative media coverage, it needs to use some of swagger to come up with an effective public relations strategy. The ball's in your court, RIM.