Friday, May 18, 2001

Research In Motion Ltd. said yesterday that it is suing Glenayre Electronics Inc., alleging patent and trademark infringements related to its popular BlackBerry wireless devices.

A complaint, which was filed on Wednesday in a Delaware district court, alleges that Glenayre Electronics, a unit of Glenayre Technologies Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., violated RIM's patent for technology called BlackBerry Single Mailbox Integration.

In April, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded RIM a patent for technology the company describes as a method for redirecting information between an office computer or server and a mobile communications device while maintaining a single e-mail address.

"Glenayre has been a blatant imitator of BlackBerry," Jim Balsillie, RIM's chairman and co-chief executive officer, said in an interview. "It has to stop. RIM has no choice but to defend [itself]."

Glenayre spokeswoman Elizabeth Dolcourt said she couldn't discuss the matter because the company hasn't received a copy of the complaint yet.

Allegations in the complaint have not been proved in court.

Ms. Dolcourt said Glenayre sells a wireless device and related services that were co-developed with Handspring Inc., which allows users of Handspring's Visor handheld devices to receive and send e-mail messages. That competes with RIM's BlackBerry device and related software services, which also allow users to send and receive e-mails.

The litigation announcement did little for RIM's stock, which closed up $1.45 to $52.70 on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday. Handspring rose 30 cents (U.S.) to $10.38 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Wireless technology analyst John D'Angelo at Scotia Capital described the patent infringement suit as "quite insignificant."

"Patents that are based mostly on software are hard to defend and easy to circumvent," he added.

A common approach that Glenayre may take is to argue that whatever it's doing runs outside of RIM's patent, Mr. Geist said. He also added that many of these cases settle without ever going to trial, typically with some kind of licensing agreement.

The RIM complaint also alleges that Glenayre uses logos for a wireless two-way messaging device and related services that are very similar to two of RIM's trademarks.

Mr. Balsillie said RIM hopes to license the patented technology to customers in the future.

RIM is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions, unspecified profits, damages, costs and legal fees from Glenayre.