OMEN
07-17-2009, 01:07 PM
Research In Motion has agreed to pay rival Visto US$267.5 million to license and buy patents, settling a long-running legal battle.
As part of the deal, RIM received a perpetual and fully paid license on all Visto patents and acquired some Visto intellectual property. The companies also dropped all outstanding lawsuits.
The deal closes a legal battle that started just after RIM settled a disagreement in 2006 with NTP that threatened to shut down BlackBerry phones. RIM agreed to pay NTP $612 million after NTP asked the court for an injunction that would have halted e-mail delivery to the phones.
Visto, which recently bought mobile e-mail provider Good Technology from Motorola, has sued several other mobile e-mail providers, including Seven Networks and Microsoft. Both companies settled the lawsuits. Visto also sued Good before buying the company.
In 2006, Daniel Mendez, a Visto cofounder, said that the lawsuits were an indication of the growing demand for mobile e-mail. A few companies are technology pioneers in the segment, but new competitors have only recently taken notice because of the market potential, he said at the time.
IDG
As part of the deal, RIM received a perpetual and fully paid license on all Visto patents and acquired some Visto intellectual property. The companies also dropped all outstanding lawsuits.
The deal closes a legal battle that started just after RIM settled a disagreement in 2006 with NTP that threatened to shut down BlackBerry phones. RIM agreed to pay NTP $612 million after NTP asked the court for an injunction that would have halted e-mail delivery to the phones.
Visto, which recently bought mobile e-mail provider Good Technology from Motorola, has sued several other mobile e-mail providers, including Seven Networks and Microsoft. Both companies settled the lawsuits. Visto also sued Good before buying the company.
In 2006, Daniel Mendez, a Visto cofounder, said that the lawsuits were an indication of the growing demand for mobile e-mail. A few companies are technology pioneers in the segment, but new competitors have only recently taken notice because of the market potential, he said at the time.
IDG