Wi-LAN bows out of BlackBerry patent case
Canadian patent licensing company Wi-LAN Inc has dismissed all its pending patent litigation with BlackBerry.
As part of the agreement, BlackBerry has received a licence to certain patents that were at suit in Florida, effectively ending all litigations in the state with prejudice.
The agreement also calls for the dismissal without prejudice of all disputes between the parties in Texas. The companies will also discuss licensing certain other wireless technologies.
Financial terms of the agreement have not been released.
Wi-LAN had launched a series of lawsuits against Research in Motion (BlackBerry's former name) relating to patents covering telecommunications technologies.
“We are pleased with the outcome of the cases recently resolved, which demonstrate our willingness to aggressively defend BlackBerry against unwarranted patent infringement claims. The Wi-LAN Inc settlement, in particular, came after BlackBerry received a favourable ruling related to one of the three patents in suit," BlackBerry said in a statement.
"BlackBerry has been at the forefront of the legislative efforts in both the United States and European Union to curb abusive and anticompetitive practices of Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs), as well as claims made by parties without merit."
Steven Auvil, partner at Squire Sanders in Cleveland, said that the patent holder may be motivated to reach a settlement if it appears as though an event will devalue the patent at suit in any way during proceedings.
The settlement with BlackBerry comes just one day after Wi-LAN announced it would dismiss all actions against other mobile phone maker HTC.
Auvil continued: “Two settlements – HTC and BlackBerry – suggests to me that the patent holder is working hard to try and settle these cases before some event occurs.”
A US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling handed down on October 9 found two of non-practising entity Intellect Wireless’ patents to be unenforceable due to inequitable conduct, which Auvil said may suggest a change in the practice of patent law.
“The sands are shifting,” he said. “There are rulings coming down on a regular basis that suggest that the current state of patent law and NPEs’ roles in patent litigation is not striking enough of a balance.”
