Blackberry settlement reached

The lawsuit between NTP and Research in Motion (maker of the Blackberry) have reached a settlement in terms of which RIM will pay $612.5m to NTP to settle the lawsuit that endangered the device millions just couldn’t imagine life without. 

I am not a Blackberry user and really wouldn’t want to make my life so dependent on it but this lawsuit has really seemed like a quest for a big payout by NTP from the start.  The tech news coming out of the USA these days seems to be replete with claims that a large and successful tech company has infringed the trademark of some small tech company and that infringement usually relates to some vital technology used by the tech giant.  How can these lawsuits not be viewed at money making initiatives?  Of course companies must be able to protect their trademarks and should take action when another company simply ignores those trademarks but the flurry of litigation seems to indicate that these cases aren’t all about genuine protection of trademarks.

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