Get the Message—Using Offshore Components to Provide Blackberry Service may Avoid Infringing Process Claims, but not System Claims

Withdrawing its December 14, 2004 opinion in this same case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that, while a process is not practiced "within" the United States unless all the steps are performed in this country, a system may infringe even though a component of the system is located outside the United States. NTP Inc. v. Research in Motion Ltd., Case No. 03-1615 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 2, 2005) (Linn, J.).

NTP Inc. is the owner of patents that integrate electronic mail with radio frequency wireless transmission. NTP sued Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian maker of the ubiquitous BlackBerry, alleging that the elements of the BlackBerry system infringed its patents.

The district court issued a summary judgment of infringement and entered judgment for NTP, awarding damages totaling $54 million. On appeal, RIM contended it cannot, as a matter of law, be held liable for infringement because a key component of its BlackBerry system, the BlackBerry relay, is located in