NTP Seeks Royalty Payment To Settle BlackBerry Dispute (5.7% royalty)

Wall Street Journal ^ | 12/9/05 | MARK HEINZL

[BurbankKarl]

TORONTO -- NTP Inc. would settle its longstanding patent-infringement dispute with Research In Motion Ltd. for a payment equal to 5.7% of RIM's future U.S. BlackBerry revenue, according to a person familiar with the situation.

It's not clear what amount such a royalty would represent, though it would likely be at least several hundreds of millions of dollars. NTP's patents last until 2012. RIM's revenue in the latest quarter was $490.1 million, and most of its BlackBerry subscribers are in the U.S.

Walterloo, Ontario-based RIM and NTP, a Virginia patent holding firm, in March had announced a preliminary settlement in the dispute, where RIM would pay $450 million to NTP, but the pact broke down before final terms could be reached.

NTP plans to seek an injunction on U.S. BlackBerry sales at upcoming hearings in U.S. District Court in Virginia. RIM is hoping to convince the court an injunction isn't appropriate for various reasons, including recent preliminary moves by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reject NTP's patents.

Earlier this month, District Court Judge James R. Spencer ruled in favor of NTP, voiding the preliminary settlement and denying a request by RIM to delay court proceedings to allow the patent office to complete its re-examination of NTP's patents.