Research in Motion Ltd. yesterday lost its bid to halt proceedings in a patent lawsuit that threatens U.S. sales of its BlackBerry handheld e-mail device. The company's shares fell as much as 9.6 percent during the course of trading yesterday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit yesterday rejected the company's request for a stay while it appeals the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The appeals court previously upheld most of a patent-infringement finding in favor of Alexandria-based NTP Inc., which may lead to an injunction barring BlackBerry sales and service in the U.S.
"This is pretty bad" for Research in Motion, said Pablo Perez-Fernandez, a ThinkEquity Partners analyst in San Francisco who rates the shares "sell" and doesn't own them. "It reduces the options that RIM has and brings the injunction that much closer. This is a very serious problem for RIM."
The injunction would stop email service to existing Blackberry users. Details here from Bloomberg via the Washington Post.