The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office again sided with Research In Motion by issuing a preliminary rejection of a fifth patent in the court battle with patent-holding company NTP. The patent office decision means the agency has now issued non-final rejections of all five patents in question in the BlackBerry patent-infringement case before a federal judge. The next step is final rejections of the patents. RIM received more good news when the U.S. Justice Department weighed in on the matter, asking the judge to refrain from any plans to shut down BlackBerry service until the government receives more assurance that it would be exempted from any shutdown.
While both of these developments are positive ones for RIM, it doesn't seem to make anyone feel better about what the judge might do this month. Apparently tired of this case, U.S. District Court Judge James Spencer has indicated in the past that he will decide on an injunction despite what the patent office says.
For more about the RIM/NTP saga:
- check out this article from teleclick.ca