The long-standing legal fight between Research in Motion (RIM) and holding company NTP is pitting established tech giants against one another. Microsoft and Intel have filed opposing briefs in the RIM, NTP case. Microsoft in a friend-of-the-court brief claims that the NTP case establishes a rule where US patents should not extend beyond US borders. Intel has taken the opposite position, backing RIM's argument and blaming NTP for not taking precautions to include language that covered international borders.
Both Microsoft and Intel claim that they have no vested interest in the outcome of the case. Some insiders, however, suggest otherwise, claiming that Intel has an interest in seeing RIM win since future BlackBerry handhelds will use Intel chips. Microsoft, they claim, has an interest in seeing RIM lose since Microsoft's Exchange Server and Windows Mobile platforms compete with RIM's BlackBerry email system.
For more on the latest RIM, NTP trial news:
- see this story from ZDNet