BlackBerry ‘workaround’ is unveiled
NEW YORK — Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry wireless e-mail device, said Thursday it has made good on its promise to develop a software “workaround” that would keep its service running if a court bars the use of its current system in a patent dispute.
NTP Inc., a tiny Arlington, Va.-based company, has convinced a federal jury that RIM’s software infringes on its patents, and is now seeking an injunction that would shut down BlackBerry service for private-sector U.S. users. Legal observers have characterized the chance of a shutdown as slim, partly because NTP would benefit more over the long term by exacting royalties from RIM.
In court filings, Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM has said that forcing its users to install new software that works around NTP’s patents would be disruptive and prompt some of them to switch to other e-mail providers.
RIM played down those concerns Thursday, saying users would notice no change once the new software was installed. When downloaded, the software would operate as normal, but on a signal from RIM, would switch into workaround mode.
The software is not yet available for downloading, nor did RIM indicate when it would be.
RIM provided few technical details, merely noting that e-mails that queue up while a BlackBerry subscriber is out of the service area would be stored on a different server by the workaround software.
RIM shares jumped $2.91, or 4.2 percent, to $71.56 in midday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
As a strategy, the workaround is a double-edged sword for RIM. On the one hand, the workaround may reassure customers who are frightened by the prospect, albeit unlikely, of a shutdown, and raise RIM’s bargaining power with NTP for a possible settlement.
“From a tactical perspective, it’s certainly helpful in negotiations if they do have a workaround,” said David Roodman, an intellectual-property lawyer at the firm Bryan Cave in St. Louis.
On the other hand, one of RIM’s themes in arguing against NTP in court has been that its e-mail service is of national interest and that an injunction would disrupt vital government and emergency services. With a workaround that purportedly wouldn’t bother users, that argument could fall flat.