RIM ordered to pay $147.2 million in damages in wireless patent lawsuit, considering an appeal

Well this news could not come at a worse time. While RIM is looking for ways to save $1 billion – such as laying off 5,000 employees and selling a company jet – they’ve been ordered by the San Francisco federal court to hand over $147.2 million in damages to Mformation Technologies. This case was originally brought on way back in 2008 as Mformation stated RIM infringed on two of their patents (6,970,917 and 7,343,408) that dealt with their enterprise server software.

According to a report in Reuters and the court filing, RIM needs to pay an $8 royalty for every BlackBerry device sold in the United States – which amounted to 18.4 million units. In a press release early this morning RIM responded to the decision saying they are “disappointed by the outcome and is evaluating all legal options. Additionally, the trial judge has yet to decide certain legal issues that might impact the verdict. RIM will await those rulings before deciding whether to pursue an appeal.”

Source: MarketWire
Via: Engadget & Reuters