RICHMOND, Va.-Research In Motion Ltd. urged a Virginia court not to shut down service to U.S. BlackBerry subscribers, claiming such a blackout could threaten public safety and business productivity.
The Canadian company is facing a disruption in service due to its ongoing legal battle with patent-holding company NTP Inc. NTP, which won a patent-infringement suit against RIM more than three years ago, has asked for a permanent injunction that would kill service to BlackBerry users.
While the injunction specifically allows service to continue for law enforcement agencies and emergency workers, RIM said in a filing that identifying and protecting such subscribers would be nearly impossible. The company said the federal government is the largest single category of BlackBerry subscribers.
A BlackBerry shutdown would be costly to U.S. businesses as well, according to a report from J. Gold Associates. The research firm found that commercial organizations would be forced to pay $845 per worker to migrate users from RIM’s service to another wireless e-mail system.
“While most companies only look at the per-seat (software) license cost, there is a great deal of infrastructure that needs to be replaced as well, and these costs add up very quickly,” said Jack Gold, the firm’s founder. “Companies must weigh the risks in staying put versus the substantial costs in making a move to another wireless middleware platform.”
