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Extraterritorial Application of U.S. Patent Laws: NTP, Inc. v. Research in Motion
Members of Congress rely on them, and many lawyers compulsively check them, but until recently, most users did not realize that every e-mail message sent to or from their BlackBerry handheld device is routed through a Relay station in Canada, which Research in Motion, Ltd. (“RIM”), the maker of the BlackBerry, calls home. The location of this Relay was a central issue in a patent infringement dispute between NTP, Inc., the holder of patents related to mobile electronic e-mail, and RIM, with RIM claiming it did not infringe NTP's patents because a key component of its BlackBerry system, and a necessary element of NTP's patent claims, resides outside the United States. But the courts have sided with NTP. (Editor's note: The case was recently settled. See IP News for details.)
The Technology
In Nov. 2001, NTP filed suit against RIM in the Eastern District of Virginia, claiming that the BlackBerry system infringes more than 40 system and method claims of NTP's patents directed toward an “electronic mail system with RF communications to mobile processor.” The BlackBerry system routes e-mail messages from a user's e-mail system through the Canadian Relay to wireless networks which then transmit the messages to the BlackBerry device. NTP alleged that the Relay component satisfies the “interface” of the “interface switch” limitation in several of its patent claims.
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