RIM Prevails in German Patent Battle

A German court has ruled in favor of embattled BlackBerry maker RIM in a patent dispute, even as the company faces a possible U.S. shutdown.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) got a bit of good news today: a German court has ruled in favor of the Canadian company in a patent dispute with Luxembourg-based InPro Licensing, a patent holding company which claimed some BlackBerry products infringed on a German-designated patent it held. The German court ruled all claims by InPro were invalid; InPro may still choose to appeal the decision.

The news comes even as RIM faces a possible shutdown of its BlackBerry network in the U.S. in its long-running patent dispute with NTP Holdings. RIM says it has a plan to continue service even if a court injunction finally forces the company to stop using allegedly infringing technology. A hearing on the injunction is scheduled for February 24, 2006; the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is still running on its own schedule reviewing NTP’s technology, but has already issued preliminary findings invalidating key patents in the case.

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