According to the latest on Research in Motion's latest patent crisis, the firm owes Mformation, a manufacture of technology to manage devices remotely, $8.00 for each of the 18.4 million units that the jury decided infringed Mformation's patent. The patent has the same feel as the Amazon One Click patent that was dislodged by the on-demand remote control. It looks really novel when you read the patent but it has this vibe that says, I've seen this before. But the jury has spoken.
We are generally not fans of patent infringement decisions on the value an infringed patent's worth. One of the great patent litigators of all time once told me while we were getting ready to go to trial, " just remember, these patent cases are being decided by the Bingo Ladies because they are the only ones who can take the time off to sit in a court room for days and listen to this stuff." Here is an example of the jury deciding and the rest of us shaking our heads.
FOSS Patents has a nice discussion of the issues.
