Blackberry users in the US can breathe slightly easier, or at least sleep: the judge hearing the case over alleged patent infringement by Research In Motion (the Blackberry parent) and NTP (which owns a number of patents - claimed patents, though the US Patent Office has been busy binning them) has deferred judgement.
The International Herald Tribune noted:
Judge James Spencer of U.S. District Court in Richmond declined to rule on an injunction that would have forced the BlackBerry's developer, Research In Motion, to terminate the popular service and escalated its long-running dispute with NTP. The judge said he was disappointed that Research In Motion and its adversary, NTP, had not been able to reach a settlement. He said he would first rule on the damages in the case before ruling on a shutdown.
"I am absolutely surprised that you have left this incredibly important and significant decision to the court," Spencer said toward the end of a hearing that lasted almost four hours. "I have always thought that this decision, in the end, was a business decision."
This strikes us as an odd thing for a judge to say - in effect, "stop cluttering up my court with your issues of law" - but we'll suppose he had his reasons.
A few hours earlier, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a final rejection of the third NTP patent that forms the basis of the company's case against RIM, which is based in Waterloo, Ontario. The three rulings are subject to lengthy appeals, and Spencer has said they would not influence the progress of the case he is overseeing.
Translating this mentally this to a criminal setting makes the latter declaration even more bizarre. It's like DNA testing being declared wrong outside the court, but the judge saying that he'll treat it as still true. (Just to be clear, DNA testing is still to be trusted.)
Judge Spencer said he would issue a decision on an injunction "as soon as reasonably possible". When? He didn't say.
