Palm Calls NTP Patent Charges "Dubious"

Palm calls NTP's claim of patent violation "dubious" and vows to defend itself vigorously.

Palm is disputing that it has violated any of the patents of NTP.

NTP, a patent holding company in Virginia, filed suit on Nov. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia claiming that Palm had violated seven of its patents relating to the transmission of electronic mail by wireless communications.
That suit, which was originally filed in the Federal District Court in Alexandria, Va., has since been transferred to Norfolk, Va. As of press time, copies of the suit were not available. In its statement released on Nov. 7, Palm called NTPs patents "dubious." The company said that all seven of the patents had been rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office when they were re-examined. The Palm statement also said that the company has tried repeatedly to discuss the issue with NTP, but charges that NTP simply responded with a lawsuit. According to the Palm statement, the NTP patents are for a pager-based e-mail service rather than the communications used by Palm. "Palm is disappointed that, after many months of silence and repeated rejections of NTPs claims by the PTO, NTP has chosen to sue on patents of doubtful validity," the companys statement said. Click here to read about NTPs patent case against RIM. The Palm statement also said that while the company respects legitimate intellectual property rights, it will "defend itself vigorously against the attempted misuse of the patent and judicial systems to extract monetary value for rights to patents that may ultimately have no value at all." NTP has not responded to eWEEKs requests to comment on the companys suit against Palm. Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis on mobile and wireless computing.