Nokia Wins Court Case Against RIM, May Halt BlackBerry Sales

Research In Motion was handed quite a troubling blow in a court case with Nokia. A Swedish arbitrator ruled in favor of Nokia in a contract dispute over Nokia's WLAN patents and related items. This is disturbing because it could potentially halt any current sales and/or future sales of BlackBerry products (i.e. BlackBerry 10) if RIM and Nokia cannot come to an agreement on any type of royalties owed.

In a Cliff's Notes version of what transpired, Nokia signed a cross-license patent agreement with RIM in 2003 which was then amended in 2008. In 2011, RIM asked for arbitration to see if the original agreement would cover WLAN patents. The arbitration panel ruled it did not in favor of Nokia, potentially putting BlackBerry sales in limbo.

Nokia has now filed suit in the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom in the hopes of winning rulings there. Will the courts in other countries uphold the Finnish manufacturer's winning arbitration ruling? Only time will tell but hopefully the two parties will reach an agreement that keeps BlackBerry sales going on.

Leave a comment on your thoughts on what this means to RIM and BlackBerry.