Looks like this was a pretty good day for Palm all around. Not only did Palm get to announce that they had a record sell-through of Treos for the last quarter, Palm also got a stay in the NTP patent suit.
If you recall, NTP, the company behind the patent infringement lawsuit against RIM,
went after Palm last March. NTP filed a lawsuit claiming that Palm had infringed on seven of its patents. NTP patented mobile device capabilities in which devices can send and receive e-mail via radio frequency to mobile processors. NTP claimed that the Treo line of smart phones as well as other Palm devices used software applications and services that infringed on their patents.
Palm announced today that Judge James R. Spencer of the United States District Court for the Eastern Division of Virginia, Richmond Division, granted a stay of proceedings in the patent infringement litigation brought against the company by NTP.
According to the press release, the court also granted Palm's motion to strike the portion of NTP's complaint alleging misbehavior at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
"We are extremely pleased with the Court's decision to grant a stay. We hope and expect that the PTO's review of NTP's patents will confirm the decision of the examiners to reject them all and so avert the need for further litigation of this matter," said Mary Doyle, Palm's senior vice president and general counsel.
So good news for Palm and that most likely means good news for Palm users as well. Let's hope that Palm can now concentrate on getting back to business and putting their valuable time into some more of that R&D that will get current and future Treo users some new goodies to play with. NTP is probably already zeroing in on their next infringement suit target. Of course I haven't heard any such thing. I'm just saying.....
