26 July 2010

From RIM to Apple: a roundup of smartphones at war

Eileen McDermott, New York

Telecom companies have been battling for the lead in the smartphone market since 2001. This year alone has seen almost every major US smartphone company sued. Below we provide a roundup of some key smartphone developments throughout the decade

NTP v RIM: In 2001, NTP sued BlackBerry maker, Research in Motion (RIM) for allegedly infringing at least five of its US patents on radio frequency wireless text communication. The case made headlines, prompting the US government to become involved. "It is vital for [the government] to be able to communicate in real time with private parties, including government contractors, through BlackBerry devices," said one US attorney in a brief to the Federal Circuit. In March 2006, RIM finally agreed to pay NTP $612.5 million to settle the dispute, avoiding a possible shutdown of its service across the US. Following the settlement, RIM took out full-page adverts in US newspapers to express its concerns about the state of the US patent system.

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From RIM to Apple: a roundup of smartphones at war

The rest of this article is available to subscribers to Managing IP only.

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