Research in Motion Ltd. had a rare bit of good news Thursday when the US International Trade Commission declined to grant a win to Eastman Kodak Co. in the ongoing patent argument between Kodak versus RIM and Apple Inc. over the technology for previewing camera images.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Kodak issued a statement that said the ruling favored its position, since the commission agreed to some of its revisions and that certain elements of the patents had in fact been infringed. Even so, Kodak’s stock price dropped 16 percent following the ruling.
That legal development was overshadowed, however, by an exclusive post on BGR that claimed to be an open letter written to top executives by a senior manager at RIM, the parent company of BlackBerry. The letter makes many severe criticisms, among them that RIM does not pay enough attention to the user experience and that it’s out of touch with the competitive landscape.
RIM questioned the authenticity of the letter but said the company is “fully aware of and aggressively addressing both the company’s challenges and its opportunities.”
In its lengthy reply, RIM said, “The company is thankfully in a solid business and financial position to tackle the opportunities ahead with a solid balance sheet (nearly $3 billion in cash and no debt), strong profitability (RIM’s net income last quarter was $695 million) and substantial international growth (international revenue in Q1 grew 67% over the same quarter last year).”
BGR posted RIM’s reply in its entirety and declared that it stood by the authenticity of the original letter.
Related Links:
Wall Street Journal article: http://tinyurl.com/3cfq8kd
BGR article: http://tinyurl.com/6bhvcxk
RIM’s reply: http://tinyurl.com/3eeg9qf
