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NTP and Palm Go to Court

NTP, a leading software developer for handheld devices, is taking Palm Inc. to court. The Richmond, Virginia based intellectual property company has filed a patent-infringement suit against the famous Palm company, charging the maker of the Treo and other handheld computing devices, with unlawfully using NTP technology in its products. So far, NTP has not revealed the specific amount of damages it wants from Palm, but does seek to prevent the other company from continuing to infringe on NTP?s patents both directly and indirectly.

Business for Palm was affected due to the lawsuit. Palm shares fell US1 dollar, or 6.5 percent, to US 14.39 dollars after the lawsuit was announced to the media. The specific complaint by privately-held NTP claims that Palm has improperly used technology from NTP patents that involve how e-mail is delivered to mobile devices. NTP said the complaint concerns Palm?s ?manufacture, use, sale offer for sale and/or importation into the US of infringing products.? Also included in the complaint are the methods, services and systems that use radio-frequency, or RF, communication to deliver e-mail.

Donald Stout, co-founder, in a statement, said the company tried to resolve the issue many times with Palm, but that it was forced to file the action as a last resort to protect its property and business. The suit follows on the heels of a similar injunction that was settled between NTP and Research In Motion Ltd.