Tongo's Blog

To the relief of all Blackberry users, RIM agreed to pay NTP about 612 Million dollars to settle the patent infringement lawsuit that threatened to shutoff the Blackberry services. Who cares..

The point to note is that NTP just convinced RIM to pay then $612 million for nothing. Yes, they own the patents even though that is questionable and the Patent Office does not agree. They have nothing to actually show that this was a workable idea that they had patented. The whole patent system has turned into a joke and a haven for people who prey on others' success. I have nothing against people patenting their ideas and inventions but a few minutes of perusing through the various patents on the USPTO site and you'll see how ridiculous the whole system has become.

That said, you have to give credit to NTP for actually sticking this one out even when the patent office was busy invalidating their patents one after the other.

Persistence always pays off.