Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM) continue to advance heading into today’s final hour of trading. RIMM climbed 7 percent to $53, after rising as much as 9 percent. The rise is attributed to NTP Inc.’s patent infringement lawsuit filed today in federal court in Virginia against Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), HTC, LG, Microsoft (MSFT) and Motorola (MOT).
NTP, which has a reputation for being a patent troll — in 2007, NTP sued AT&T (T), Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), T-Mobile, and Verizon Comm. Inc. (VZ) for similar infringements — asserts that the smart phone makers violated its eight patents related to the delivery of e-mail over wireless communications systems. The Richmond, Va.-based firm also says that the tech world’s leading co.’s have raked in billions of dollars on patents secured by NTP’s founder Tom Campana.
“The filing of suit today is necessary to ensure that those companies who are infringing NTP’s patents will be required to pay a licensing fee,” NTP cofounder Donald Stout said in a prepared statement.
NTP is best known for its long litigation and eventual pricey legal settlement with Research in Motion, which ended in 2006. RIM agreed to pay NTP $612.5 million to settle all pending claims in fiscal 2005. In return, RIM received a license allowing it to use patented NTP technology in all of its products.
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