NTP sues Apple, Microsoft, and others, in email patent claims

NTP Corporation today announced it has launched new lawsuits against numerous technology firms for alleged patent infringement related to eight patents held by the company in wireless email delivery.

NTP has filed suit against LG Electronics, Microsoft, Motorola, Apple, Google, High Tech Computer (HTC) Corporation in a U.S. District Court in Virginia.

NTP has already successfully sued firms for infringements on the same patents it is filing suit for today.

 Namely, in 2006, NTP agreed to a massive $612-million settlement with Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphone. As part of that deal, RIM gained non-exclusive rights to the patents. The suit almost brought an injunction that would have blocked the use of the BlackBerry smartphone in the United States, but that ultimately did not happen due to security concerns (as the device is used by government officials), and due to the looming settlement.

The RIM vs. NTP case dragged on for about five years, after an appeals court affirmed RIM was in fact infringing on NTP patents.

NTP Corporation essentially only holds a portfolio of patents, and does not really do much more that just that, which has prompted the United States Patent and Trademark Office to reexamine various NTP patents, only to reaffirm most holdings.

NTP says it is confident rejected patents will be re-granted after various patent holdings were overturned.
NTP co-founder onald E. Stout, said today in a statement, “Use of NTP’s intellectual property without a license is just plain unfair to NTP and its licensees.”