“There was never any dispute that Research in Motion Ltd., the Canadian firm that introduced the world to the BlackBerry in 1999, came up with its own technology to power the wireless e-mail device. But Thomas Campana Jr., co-founder of a small McLean firm called NTP Inc., noticed an uncanny resemblance between the BlackBerry technology and a technology he had developed years earlier. . . . Six years later, the dispute has been settled, with RIM agreeing to pay $612.5 million to NTP to resolve the patent dispute.” (Washington Post, Saturday)
Legal plunder sometimes takes the form of extortion between private parties.
FEE Timely Classic
“Patents and Monopoly Privilege” by Christopher Mayer