NTP launched into a patent lawsuit frenzy last year, suing giants like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Motorola, LG, HTC, and major U.S. carriers like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. The seven patents in question revolved around mobile e-mail, and though the U.S. Court of Appeals sought to invalidate the patent for being unreasonably broad, the appeal against them has been squashed, and NTP can get back to continuing their various cases. One of NTP’s patents remained invalid despite an appeal, as it impugned upon one own by Research In Motion.
The other seven used against everybody else are many of the same patents that squeezed millions in licensing out of RIM five years ago. NTP vs. RIM tends to be a good case study on how far these patent battles can go in the wireless world, and I doubt any of NTP’s claims will net any licensing income from all of the companies involved. However, even though it’s a scattershot approach, these are bigger companies with the money to pay up, and NTP has established some precedent in their claim on these particular e-mail technologies, so it would be surprising if they couldn’t score a win from at least a few of their patents.
[via Bloomberg]