RIM settles patent dispute out of court

Blackberry maker RIM has settled a patent dispute with Nebraska based firm Prism out of court to avoid a long court case and the risk of having certain Blackberry models, software and servers banned for import into the US.
On Tuesday Prism dismissed its claims with both the International Trade Commission and the federal courts – initiated in 2008 – on grounds that RIM had agreed to settle the patent dispute. Prism had initially sued RIM claiming the firm had to buy licenses for the authentication system used by RIM to offer BlackBerry services online.
It’s unclear how much RIM has agreed to pay Prism, but analysts believe the settlement was preferable to dragging the dispute out in court, with the added risk that the Blackberry maker could have lost the case.
Two years ago Prism had sued both RIM and Microsoft for failing to take out a license for its online authentication patents, naming the Blackberry Curve 8330 – made in Canada and Mexico – as a specific offender. Had the court ruled in Prism’s favor, RIM would likely have seen a trade ban on its Blackberry Curve offering.
Microsoft, for its part, settled out of court with Prism in September 2009.