Canada backs Blackberry infringement case

Canada claims that a recent US Federal Court ruling against Research In Motion, makers of BlackBerry, threatens to have a \'troubling effect of chilling innovation by Canadian companies\'. According to RIM, its BlackBerry relay server - through which all e-mails pass - is based in Ontario, thus US patent laws do not apply. The dispute began in 2002 when US company NTP claimed that RIM had infringed 16 of its patents. In August 2003, a US court agreed that 11 of the 16 patents were violated and awarded NTP millions of dollars in damages as well as an 8.6% royalty on all revenue from US BlackBerry sales. RIM appealed and in December a three-panel US Appeals Court struck down the verdict but sent the case back to the lower court for reconsideration. Harvard Business School professor Josh Lerner said the outcome of the case could be far-reaching and must help to set the boundaries for territorial patent claims. Full AustralianIT report