U.S. Has Misgivings About BlackBerry Shutdown Plan

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. Justice Department urged a federal judge on Wednesday to refrain from any plans to shut BlackBerry portable e-mail service over patent infringement until the government gets more assurances its users will be exempted.

The department handed BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. its second legal victory of the day, saying in a court filing that there had not been enough evidence submitted to show that the plan would carve out government users "without substantial hardship."

"We believe that there are still a number of serious questions to be answered as to how an injunction can be implemented so as to continue BlackBerry service for governmental and other excepted groups," the Justice Department said in a legal brief filed in federal court.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sided with the company by issuing a non-final rejection of a fifth patent at the center of its legal battle with patent holding company NTP Inc.

RIM is pursuing the patent office challenge as it tries to fend off the 2003 patent infringement ruling that NTP won against the company in federal court in Richmond, Va.

U.S. District Judge James Spencer is due to hear arguments February 24 on whether to grant NTP's request for a shutdown of most U.S. BlackBerry service.

RIM's lawyers have argued that Spencer should refrain from imposing any injunction for a number of reasons, including an "exceptional public interest" in maintaining uninterrupted BlackBerry service for national security officials and other government workers.

The patent office decision means the agency has now issued non-final rejections of all five patents at issue in a BlackBerry patent-infringement case before a federal judge.

But the final outcome of the challenge at the patent office is likely months away, while the potentially decisive court hearing in the infringement case is set for February 24.

RIM shares, which had closed up 9 percent to $73.61 on Nasdaq after the patent decision, added on as much as 1.9 percent to $75 a share on Inet in after-hours trading following the government's court filing.

Copyright © 2006 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in ExtremeTech.