US Supreme Court rejects BlackBerry appeal

The US Supreme Court has decided not to intervene in the long-running patent battle between Canadian firm Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry device, and NTP, a Virginia-based company, an Associated Press report said.

 

The report said with this development, the millions of BlackBerry users can now turn their attention back to a federal court where the fate of the popular wireless e-mail device may be decided.

 

After the Supreme Court chose not to intervene in the case, the resolution of the long-running battle over patents for the handheld device is up to US District Judge James R. Spencer, the report said.

 

The report said although the judge could impose an injunction and block BlackBerry use among many of its estimated 3 million owners in the US, many analysts expect RIM to strike a deal with the patent-holder or introduce changes to work around the patents.