NTP served up an unsavory settlement solution that called for 5.7 percent of the BlackBerry service's expected revenue through 2012, the year NTP's patents expire. Merrill Lynch estimated that a royalty with that rate could cost RIM up to $900 million. NTP said that they proposed the 5.7 percent royalty settlement to RIM, but RIM refused and countered with their own offer that NTP deemed unacceptable. NTP would not discuss RIM's offer but said the two companies aren't close to making a deal. NTP co-founder Dennis Stout said that the settlement amount would exceed $450 million, the sum that the two companies had discussed as a settlement price last spring.
RIM is in jeopardy of having to stop service to BlackBerry users in the US pending a court ruling, but the company claims to have developed a solution that works around NTP's patents. RIM has not commented on the settlement situation.
For more on the NTP, RIM saga:
- take a look at this article from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)