RIM Agrees To Pay $267 Million To Visto In Patents Case

Research in Motion's long running patents litigation with Visto Corporation is expected to be settled during the week of July 20 with RIM paying $267.5 million to Visto, which is now called Good Technology.

The companies said they have entered into a definitive agreement to settle all outstanding patent litigation between them with RIM to receive a perpetual and fully paid license on all Visto patents.

The wireless industry has been rife with litigation over intellectual property, particularly as the industry grows rapidly. In 2006, RIM paid patent holding company NTP $612.5 million after lengthy litigation. After the NTP case was settled, RIM complained of a "patent system in obvious need of reform." In recent months, the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress have focused renewed attention on the patent system.

In the RIM-Visto case, Visto maintained that Research in Motion infringed on its technology while RIM countered that there were no new inventions in the Visto patents. Visto's software is used by several wireless carriers including Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, and Vodafone Group Plc.

Still pending is patents litigation between RIM and Motorola in which both companies have claimed the other infringed on its patents. An earlier agreement between Research In Motion and Motorola expired earlier and the two firms weren't able to craft a new agreement

Much of the recent wireless patents litigation is centered around Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi interfaces.

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