RIM Pays Off Nokia; Patent Dispute Settled

[wraggster]

Today Nokia announced an agreement (http://press.nokia.com/2012/12/21/nokia-and-rim-enter-into-new-patent-license-agreement/) with Research In Motion to resolve all patent legislation between the two (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57560420-94/rim-reaches-patent-peace-with-nokia-at-a-cost/). The companies have been fighting over patents for almost a decade, most recently (http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/12/11/28/1443210/nokia-asks-court-to-block-rim-products-for-violating-patent-agreement) over devices with wireless LAN capabilities. The terms of today's agreement were not disclosed but it involved a one-time payment from RIM as well as ongoing payments. This agreement comes shortly after RIM's announcement that it pulled in $9 million in profit last quarter, down 97% from the $265 million they earned (http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2012/12/20/research-in-motion-blackberry-earnings/1781837/) in the same quarter the year before. The company has pinned its hopes on BlackBerry 10 (http://slashdot.org/topic/cloud/for-rim-moment-of-truth-is-almost-at-hand/), scheduled to launch next month: "So this is RIM at the end of 2012: losing subscribers and revenue, facing significant opponents, but with more cash on hand and at least one long-running lawsuit settled. If nothing else, it means the way is clear for RIM to launch its Hail Mary pass: BlackBerry 10.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/12/21/1917208/rim-pays-off-nokia-patent-dispute-settled