The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is likely to back BlackBerry Maker Research in Motion.
In an unusual step, the USPTO notified both Research in Motion and Virginia based patent holder NTP that the five patents RIM was found guilty of infringing on would be rejected in its final rulings and that the final rulings may come by mid-February, earlier than expected.
“The patent owner’s arguments are deemed nonpersuasive,” said the patent office document, which was received last week but dated Nov. 30. “The next office action is expected to be a final rejection of all current claims.”
RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie says that the BlackBerry firms lawyers believe that if the patents are rejected, any proceedings to place an injunction on the sale of BlackBerry services in the United States will be immediately halted.