RIM's and eBay's misadventures in the wacky world of patent law

[mandy]

Four short years ago, eBay Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. went to court in the United States to swat a pesky pair of tiny, Virginia-based companies that claimed, in separate actions, that their patents were being infringed by the technology giants.

Not only did the corporate Davids defeat the Goliaths, but eBay and RIM are now each engaged in white-knuckle struggles to stave off injunctions that would virtually shut down their U.S. operations. Unless a legal miracle occurs, such as a favourable U.S. Supreme Court ruling, two of the world's most admired innovators could be forced to pay settlements that some analysts predict could crest $1-billion (U.S.).

Welcome to the dysfunctional world of patent litigation...

full article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/A...s/Canadian

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New Developments In The eBay-MercExchange "Buy It Now" Lawsuit http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...564.0.html

[Nat]

RIM faces a potentially more ruinous outcome. After an appellate court agreed in August that RIM infringed on patents owned by another Virginia-based company, NTP Inc., the BlackBerry maker must choose between seeing its e-mail devices shut down in the U.S. or pay NTP a settlement that some fear may rise as high as $1-billion.

Oooooooh.