Research in Motion and NTP resolve patent litigation

Research in Motion , the company behind the BlackBerry wireless e-mail device, has resolved its patent dispute with NTP, the companies announced Wednesday.

As part of the settlement to resolve all legal matters between the companies, NTP and RIM will enter in to licensing agreement, the terms of which will be finalized in upcoming weeks, RIM said in a statement.

In 2002, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia found that RIM willingly infringed patents held by NTP , an intellectual property holding company in Arlington, Va. NTP was incorporated to hold patents obtained by Tom Campana for a wireless communications system he developed for his pager company.

RIM, in Waterloo, Ontario, has now agreed to pay NTP $450 million to settle all pending claims, as well as for a perpetual, fully paid up license going forward, RIM said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.