There's an Indian hand in $147-mn patent blow to BlackBerry maker

There’s an Indian connection to the multi-million-dollar blow dealt to the ailing Canadian smartphone maker, Research In Motion (RIM), in an American court on Friday, July 13. A jury in San Francisco’s US Federal District Court of Northern California found the BlackBerry maker, guilty of infringing patents belonging to American firm Mformation Technologies and ordered RIM to pay $147.2 million in damages.

Mformation, a provider of mobile device management technology, and headquartered in Edison, New Jersey, was founded by Indian American Rakesh Kushwaha, who is currently the company’s chief technology officer. While Kushwaha was the lead inventor of the patents in question, Chief Scientist Badri Nath was listed as the co-inventor.

The patents related to wireless mobile device management, and the software found to infringe Mformation’s patent was RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server, used by corporate enterprise customers to manage and secure their BlackBerry devices. The patents were applied for in 2001 and awarded in 2005 and 2008.

In a statement after the verdict, Kushwaha said: “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.”

Mformation’s President and CEO Todd DeLaughter told Business Standard: “With the court’s decision validating our pursuit of this case, our focus now is on bringing this chapter to an end for both companies, so we can focus on our core businesses.”

Responding to questions from Business Standard, a RIM spokesman said: “This technology is not core to RIM’s product line. RIM’s future products operate differently and are not the subject of a claim.”

Mformation had filed a suit in October 2008, alleging infringement of its patents by RIM after reportedly disclosing information about the technology to the Canadian company during potential licensing talks. Mformation alleged RIM did not purchase a licence but incorporated the patented technology after modifications.

The lead trial counsel arguing Mformation’s case in court was Amar Thakur, a San Diego-based attorney. He explained after the verdict that the jury’s award was for royalties on sales to non-government customers in the US. The award does not include future royalties, past and future US government sales, or past and future non-US sales, according to Mformation. The RIM spokesman also reiterated that any Mformation recovery could not include damages for sales outside the US or to government customers.