The big news last month was that Research in Motion (‘RIM’) finally reached a settlement with NTP Inc (‘NTP’) in relation to RIM’s production and marketing of the BlackBerry push-email device, which NTP alleged infringed its patent. According to public reports of the settlement, RIM agreed to pay NTP some US$612.5m. (This is a little less surprising when one remembers that NTP was threatening to seek an interlocutory injunction against RIM, which would have had the effect of shutting down the BlackBerry email service — not to mention plunging hundreds of firms into a communication stone age, and thousands of lawyers and executives into BlackBerry withdrawal.)
Some have criticised NTP’s suit and expressed doubts about whether the patent is actually valid. Pegoraro, for example, has argued that the NTP patent should never have been granted, and that the licence fee damages are excessive.
However, the real winners are not NTP or its shareholders (though they would also be pleased, I’m sure) but rather their lawyers. Wiley, Rein & Fielding, a mid-tier firm in Washington DC, took the case on a contingency basis, and now stands to take away one third of the $612.5m settlement in fees. (To put this in perspective, that’s substantially more than the firm normally earns during an entire year.) Further, as Mobile Magazine notes, NTP and its shareholders will still get to keep the remainder of the $612.5m settlement even if the relevant patent is eventually rejected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
