Federal lawyers are seeking to make sure that a patent dispute doesn’t wind up interfering with federal employees’ use of the ubiquitous BlackBerry portable email device. Thousands of federal workers use them to conduct the government’s business, and the U.S. Justice Department is moving to protect their continued use. At issue is a patent dispute between BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., and Virginia patent company NTP Inc.
According to The Wall Street Journal, outside lawyers believe that there will be a settlement before the court issues any injunction that could impact such use. And RIM execs say they have an alternative method of ensuring that there is no interruption of BlackBerry service should the court act to curtail its sales and service in the United States. NTP also has said government use would not be affected in the United States, regardless. But the DoJ has its doubts about that. It believes that BlackBerry usage is integral to federal work that any settlement or court action in the legal battle must include a mechanism preventing interruption of BlackBerry service within the government. It has filed a “statement of interest” motion with the court.
A $450 million patent settlement between RIM and NTP recently ran aground. The court is considering whether to enforce that pact. The U.S. Patent Office is reviewing patent documents in the case.