Patent Woes at RIM

The patent litigation that threatens to turn off the Blackberries of millions of users continues to grind along. It hasn’t seemed appropriate to cover it here before because the prospects for more or less peaceful resolution have seemed good, and because the latest minute to minute development developments are covered elsewhere.

But SearchDomino’s coverage of Gartner’s recent warning to would-be RIM customers that they avoid new deployments, and questions about RIM’s proposed workarounds if the courts rule in favor of NTP, bring some new issues into focus. If nothing else, the litigation seems to be inspiring other companies such as Good Technology and Notify Technology Corp. to compete more vigorously. In the end though, perhaps it’s really the Betty Ford Clinic that should be scrambling — if NTP’s extortionate tactics triumph in the courts, there will be a need for a new wing to house recovering Crackberry users.