Organisation: Research in Motion / InPro

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Analysis and commentary by Echo Research.

Blackberry maker RIM scored some important victories last week in the latest twist of its longstanding patent dispute with Luxembourg-based InPro. The announcement that the UK High Court had ruled in its favour generated some highly favourable headlines: "Another patent victory for Blackberry" (PC Advisor.3/2), "RIM wins patent case in the UK" (Techworld, 3/6), "Brits can hang on to their Blackberrys" (ABCMoney.co.uk, 2.2), which appeared to grant a stay of execution for the Blackberry service, under threat of total blackout. Adding its mighty weight to RIM's case was the US government, which requested that federal users be made exempt from any cessation of service: "Washington 'needs Blackberry'" (bbc.co.uk, 2/2), "Blackberry shutdown worries feds" (CNN, 2/2). With such positive coverage, and a rising share price, "Blackberry raspberries" ran the probably accurate headline in vunet.com (3/2).

But Blackberry users, deemed 'crackberries' because of the Blackberry's addictive nature, can't relax just yet. Industry commentators observed that the UK ruling was "nothing but a PR win" (vunet.com, 3/2), and another ventured that the protracted wrangling made a shutdown "just a little more likely" (vunet.com, 3/2). While a settlement is deemed the most likely outcome of this closely-followed patent dispute, uncertain investors and customers are allegedly ditching their Blackberries for alternatives. Blackberry may have raspberried too soon.