• NY Times, Thursday, December 15, 2005 10:03 AM

The patent dispute between BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and NTP, which claims that RIM's Blackberry devices violate its patent, could in fact become a marketing opportunity for RIM's competitors. Well, at least The New York Times has turned it into one. This week, several new wireless email software providers saw an opportunity to enter the Blackberry-dominated market by licensing NTP's patents. One of these, called Visto, is quoted in the Times saying it saw an opportunity due to "a lot of turbulence in the marketplace," brought on by customer "confusion," adding that its customers "don't want to have to worry about litigation." Meanwhile, others, like Good Technology and a new branch from Nokia, say the dispute between RIM and NTP has resulted in a spike in queries from potential customers. Even so, analysts predict the BlackBerry maker will reach a settlement with NTP, preventing a shutdown of BlackBerry service.

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