Wireless software start-up Good Technology Inc. Tuesday filed suit against Research In Motion Ltd. over technology used in
delivering wireless e-mail.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Sunnyvale, Calif.’s Good, which announced its intent to compete in the wireless
software sector a few weeks ago, filed a suit
that attacks RIM’s patent on single unified e-mail. This, for instance, involves how data is delivered from a PC to a mobile device.
The suit asks a federal court to declare that the patent is invalid, or at least that Good isn’t infringing it.
Good has more or less taken such legal action as a preemptive strike, in anticipation of being sued by RIM for patent infringement.
It would be impossible for RIM not to sit up and take notice of Good. After all, the company is first offering its wireless e-mail
service on the RIM signature BlackBerry handheld.
Where did Good get the notion that it could be sued? From a court filing, which said that at a meeting in July 2001 a RIM vice
president told Good executives that the e-mail service would violate RIM’s patent. Good said additional threats have been made.
According to WSJ, Waterloo, Ontario’s RIM has sued in the past to protect rivals from cashing in on its intellectual
property. In May 2001, RIM filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Delaware against Glenayre Electronics, Atlanta, a unit of
Glenayre Technologies Inc., for violating the same patent Good is trying to get a declaratory judgment on.
While RIM refuses to comment on pending litigation, Good said in a company statement that it hasn’t served RIM with a legal
document. Instead, it is trying to work out the issue with RIM, independent of the court system.
