T-Mobile sued over wireless e-mail

By Ed Sperling, Editor in Chief -- Electronic News, 9/11/2007

A patent holding company is suing T-Mobile over seven patents, including five from a previous suit it brought against Research in Motion for wireless e-mail.

NTP filed a patent infringement suit in U.S. District Court in Virginia, claiming that T-Mobile’s Sidekick services, “My Email” and “Corporate My Email” violate patents it has acquired.

According to Wikipidia, NTP was founded in 1992 and holds 50 patents, including those for wireless e-mail and radio frequency antennae. NTP first gained national attention when it successfully sued RIM over its Blackberry services. The case evoked outcry among corporations and government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense, and was elevated all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear an appeal filed by RIM.

While some of the patents are still being reviewed, NTP has since licensed its mobile e-mail patents to Visto, Nokia, Good Technology, RIM, and all of RIM’s partners, Wikipedia says. In fact, RIM paid NTP $612.5 million to settle its claims.

NTP is seeking damages and an injunction against T-Mobile.

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