The company which bought RIM almost to the point of collapse by
suing it for breaching its patents is now going after other mobile
companies.
NTP won a jury verdict that RIM infringed on patents held by
the late Thomas Campana for a wireless e-mail system. In the end the
companies settled for $612.5 million, despite the fact that the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office issued final office actions invalidating most of NTP's
patents at issue in the case.
Now it seems that the company is suing
wireless carriers AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. Eight patents are
cited, five of which were argued in the RIM litigation.
NTP says that
since hardware makers like RIM and Nokia have licensed the patents in
question from NTP, the carriers should have to have a license as well. NTP
wants ongoing royalties as well as damages from the carriers.
More here.