News

Decision Given in Glenayre Technologies' Case against Research in Motion

July 10, 2001 by Jeff Shepard

Research in Motion (RIM, Canada) announced that it has received a favorable decision from the US District Court for the northern district of California relating to the federal lawsuit filed against it in 1999 by the wireless access group of Glenayre Technologies Inc. (Charlotte, NC).

In August of 1999, the wireless access group of Glenayre filed a lawsuit alleging that the sale and marketing of certain RIM products infringed on a patent held by Wireless Access Inc. After reviewing the patent, RIM contested Wireless Access' claim and subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment of non-infringement. US District Judge Charles Legge granted summary judgment, holding that RIM's products do not infringe upon Wireless Access's Patent Number 5,631,503. Remaining in the suit is RIM's counterclaim for a judgment of invalidity of Patent Number 5,631,503.

Glenayre has since requested that it be granted permission to file a motion for reconsideration in connection with the recent summary judgment motion in favor of RIM. Glenayre plans to ask the court to reconsider its finding that RIM's products do not infringe upon Glenayre's Patent Number 5,631,503.

In a separate matter, RIM announced on May 17, 2001, that it has filed a complaint againt Glenayre, alleging that Glenayre's conduct violates federal patent law by infringing on RIM's BlackBerry single mailbox integration Patent Number 6,219,694. Glenayre, which once sold two-way paging devices similar to RIM's BlackBerry, has since announced that it is exiting that business altogether to focus instead on unified messaging solutions.