Good Technology settles with Lawsuits in Motion

Lump sum and license

By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco, 28th March 2004

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Good Technology has settled the bitter legal dispute with Research in Motion, agreeing to pay the litigious Canadian pager company a lump sum and quarterly licensing fees.

RIM had filed four suits against Good, arguing that the start-up engaged in"misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, tortious interference with contracts and prospective economic relations, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, breach of implied duty of good faith and fair dealing, and civil conspiracy."

The terse statement issued by both parties today didn't elaborate on the deal. It's clear that RIM got what it wanted - a licensing deal - although we don't know how much. RIM has struck licensing deals for its software with Microsoft, Palm, Symbian, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. Good Technology runs on Palm and Pocket PC. But its only smart phone deal is for Motorola's do-it-all, dual hinge MPx handheld.

However, RIM's fate hangs in the balance. Patent licensing outfit NTP and Xerox both claim RIM infringed on its patents; a judge has already ordered RIM to pay damages and an injunction issued last summer could prevent RIM selling its Blackberry devices. That's pending the results of a re-examination of NTP's patents by the US Patent Office. The uncertainty has spread to the market. Both Nokia and PalmOne have held back from offering RIM software on their new devices in the US, citing the NTP lawsuit. ®