Judge delays decision on BlackBerry cutoff

As for the government’s concerns, Spencer said they would be addressed in any injunction. The Justice Department, which sent its own attorneys to Spencer’s courtroom, asked for a 90-day grace period rather than NTP’s recommended 30 days.

Also Friday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected a second NTP patent at the heart of the case, two days after ruling on the first. It has now formally rejected all but three key patents, and it has signaled it will invalidate them as well.

Despite the investor optimism, several patent attorneys not associated with the case said it still wasn’t clear Spencer would be swayed by RIM’s arguments, the patent office decisions or a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to review a separate patent case involving eBay Inc. and a small Virginia business. That case could change the current practice of almost automatically granting injunctions in patent cases.

Susan Dadio, a patent attorney in Alexandria, suggested that RIM’s stock movement may be more related to the company’s public-relations push than the actual legal merits.

“At this point,” she said, “nobody has any idea as to Judge Spencer’s final ruling.”

NTP sued in 2001, and a year later, a federal jury agreed that RIM had infringed on the smaller firm’s patents. The jury awarded NTP 5.7 percent of U.S. BlackBerry sales — a rate that Spencer later boosted to 8.55 percent.

Spencer first issued an injunction in 2003 but held off on its enforcement during RIM’s appeals. After those efforts largely failed, the case returned to Spencer.

Should a BlackBerry shutdown actually occur, a wide variety of rivals might benefit, ranging from Microsoft Corp. and Palm Inc. to lesser-known software makers including Good Technology Inc., Visto Corp. and Seven Networks Inc.

A growing number of companies are making keyboard-equipped handhelds that can deliver BlackBerry-like service using Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system or third-party applications from the likes of Good and Visto. BlackBerry users also can switch to their cellular provider’s brand of service, many powered by Seven and Visto.

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