NEW YORK, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Canada's Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry device, could reportedly settle its legal case with NTP Inc. for a royalty payment.
Toronto's Globe and Mail, citing unidentified sources Friday, said NTP has indicated that a payment equal to 5.7 percent of RIM's future U.S. BlackBerry revenue would settle the long-running case over technology that lets e-mail be sent wirelessly.
An analysis by Merrill Lynch indicates such a royalty would cost RIM more than $900 million. RIM has rejected the 5.7 percent figure, the Wall Street Journal said.
In March, RIM and NTP, a Virginia patent holding firm, reached a preliminary deal where RIM would pay $450 million to NTP, but the deal broke down.
This month, a U.S. judge voided that settlement, against RIM's wishes, and also denied RIM's request to delay proceedings so the U.S. patent office could re-examine NTP's patents.
Now NTP plans to seek an injunction against U.S. BlackBerry sales, and that increases pressure on RIM to settle.
RIM has promised a technology "workaround" that will bypass NTP's patents -- but such assurances have not been generally persuasive.
