RIM wins patent claim ruling
2006-02-24 13:11 ET - News Release

RIM PROVIDES UPDATE ON PATENT REEXAMINATION PROCEEDING

Research in Motion Ltd. has received a copy of a final office action issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the ex parte re-examination of NTP, Inc. patent No. 5,436,960. This final office action maintains the outright and complete rejection of all claims in the patent.

All of the three patents remaining in dispute in the NTP v. RIM litigation have now been rejected based in part on prior art not considered in the 2002 trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Although NTP may appeal, the rejections reflect the final opinion of the patent office's central re-examination unit that the the patents at issue in this case are invalid.

The final rejections were all based on multiple grounds, required unanimous agreement from a panel of three senior patent examiners and are expected to withstand all future appeals by NTP.

1. Patent No. 6,317,592 contains six of the nine claims at issue in this case and all six claims were rejected in the patent office ruling disclosed by RIM in Stockwatch on Feb. 1, 2006.
2. Patent No. 6,067,451 contains two of the nine claims at issue in this case and both claims were rejected in the patent office ruling disclosed by RIM in Stockwatch on Feb. 22, 2006.
3. Patent No. 5,436,960 contains the last of the nine claims at issue in this case and that claim was rejected in the patent office ruling disclosed today, Feb. 24, 2006.

We seek Safe Harbor.