As you may recall, in 2006 Research in Motion (RIM), the owner of Blackberry, paid $612.5 million to patent owner NTP to settle a patent infringement lawsuit.The US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Richmond, VA in September heard a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) based lawsuit filed by NTP. The lawsuit is intended to uncover details about the relationship between RIM and the US Department of Justice at the time of the 2006 settlement.The US Government was the largest user of Blackberry’s and relied upon their reliable secure data functionality. What NTP lawyers did not know at the time of the settlement was the Justice Department had entered into a “common-interest” agreement with RIM to advance governement interests in the patent infringement dispute.The Justice Department allegedly withheld over 300 documents related to the effect of injunction on government Blackberrys.Although common interest agreements are legal, questions remain concerning whether the terms of the deal should have remain private to NTP. RIM may face additional pressure if the documents from the FOIA suit are revealed and additional limitations may be placed on the use of common interest agreements that effect settlement agreements between adverse parties.
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