Canadian OEM pays the price for piggybacking Mformation's patents.
In 2008, mobile device management tools provider Mformation launched a lawsuit against RIM for patent infringement crimes. And now, the US Federal District Court of Northern California has found RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise Server guilty.
The former's platform is implemented by operators and enterprises, offering security, software upgrades, app monitoring etc, while RIM's BES is used by corporate customers to manage their BlackBerrys.
The unanimous jury verdict ensured that RIM will have to cough up $147.2 million in damages to Mformation, covering the four year duration of the legal battle.
Rakesh Kushwaha, patent inventor, founder and CTO, Mformation, said: "Mformation created the mobile device management category in the late 1990s and was innovating in this area well before most of the market understood the fundamental importance of wireless mobility management.
"Our patents are a core part of our innovative products, and are fundamental to the methods used for device management in the market today. We ensured that our early innovations in device management were put through rigorous legal assessment by applying for patents on these innovations in the United States and abroad."
It isn't RIM's the first time in the courtroom. Last year, the Canadian vendor was blasted by software firm Basis for infringing the name 'BBX' – now known as BB10 – while US consumers sought compensation for losing access to BBM services during the firm's infamous international blackout.
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