The Patent Trolls Take Another Blow!

U.S. Patent Office Sides with RIM

By Carmen Nobel December 20, 2005 from eWeek.comThe U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has indicated that it will formally and finally reject the patents at the heart of a lawsuit in which NTP Inc. is suing BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. for patent infringement. But while such a ruling would be good news for RIM and its customers, industry experts say that it will likely take several months before such a ruling would be final. The USPTO last week rejected two of five patents at the center of the legal battle that threatens to shutter the BlackBerry e-mail service in the United States. While the rulings were "non-final actions," meaning NTP can appeal them, the office made a point of indicating that it aims to reject them eventually. "The present Office Action would have been a final Office action but for new rejection based on a Norwegian Telecommunications Administration printed publication that was made of record in related re-examination proceeding," read the latest USPTO ruling rejecting patent number 5,436,960, which is known somewhat colloquially as the '960 patent.'" Read More... NTP only exists as a parasite on the body of invention. Hopefully this will cause the judge in the case, who very suspiciously is trying to rule in NTPs favor before the USPTO throws the patents out, to slow down and wait for the Patent Office to do justice, since it is the USPTO's responsibility, and not his. Walt (and, PS, dear NTP, next time you try to post a comment, please don't do it anonymously. I get to screen them first. Calling RIM names won't endear you either.)