Smart phone maker Motorola and Research in Motion, the company behind the popular BlackBerry brand, announced today that they have resolved patent infringement claims that earlier this year threatened sales of BlackBerry devices in the United States and the global enterprise mobility landscape.
A joint statement revealed that the competitors have agreed to end “all outstanding worldwide litigation between the two companies.” The agreement includes provisions for “up-front payment and ongoing royalties to Motorola,” presumably from RIM. The companies did not reveal the specific financial terms involved.
The reconciliation ends a dispute that burst into view in 2008, when Motorola filed a patent infringement lawsuit against RIM in federal court in Texas, alleging that RIM and its BlackBerry devices had illegally appropriated patented Motorola technology for functions such as WiFi access, application management, the user interface, and power management.
In a parallel action in the United Kingdom in January, Motorola was dealt a setback when the U.K. court ruled one of the contested patents invalid. A week prior to that development, while both lawsuits were still pending, Motorola ratcheted up the pressure, taking its allegations to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) with a request that any infringing products be banned from sale in the United States.