Blackberry Enterprise Server software results in RIM paying $147 million in damages
RIM has lost a court case bought against it by mobile device management (MDM) specialist, Mformation Technologies, which has cost the BlackBerry manufacturer almost $150 million.
The US Federal District Court of Northern California found Canadian company, RIM, guilty on Friday of infringing Mformation's patent related to wireless MDM, by a unanimous jury verdict.
The software found to infringe Mformation's patent is RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), used by corporate enterprise customers to manage and secure their BlackBerry devices.
The court awarded Mformation $147.2 million dollars in damages based on past sales of BES-connected BlackBerry smartphones in the US from late 2008, when the lawsuit was filed, through the trial date. This award does not include future royalties, past and future US government sales, or past and future non-US sales.
'Mformation created the mobile device management category in the late 1990s and was innovating in this area well before most of the market understood the fundamental importance of wireless mobility management. Our patents are a core part of our innovative products, and are fundamental to the methods used for device management in the market today,' said patent inventor and Mformation founder and CTO, Rakesh Kushwaha.
'We ensured that our early innovations in device management were put through rigorous legal assessment by applying for patents on these innovations in the United States and abroad. Now these patented technologies are central to many critical mobile device management tasks being used by operators, service providers and enterprises around the world, including remote device configuration, lock/wipe and application management. With a total of 27 patents granted or pending, our IP portfolio will allow us to continue to shape the future of the mobile device management market,' Kushwaha stated.
MDM is a critical enabler in the march toward complete mobilisation of services for both consumers and the enterprises using a wide range of wirelessly connected devices, from smartphones to tablets, other computing devices and machines (M2M devices), Mformation claimed. Mformation's patent portfolio covers the entire range of over-the-air (OTA) device management functions, touching wireless devices activated and managed in all Wi-Fi and cellular networks around the world.
Mformation lead attorney, Amar Thakur of Foley & Lardner LLP, said: 'Our legal system allows small businesses to protect their patented inventions against unauthorised use by large corporations. Today the legal system worked and inventors everywhere should feel encouraged by the court's conclusion.'
