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Patent extortion, even with an "invalid patent" - it has to end!

Not many commentators have been quite as outspoken about the money RIM was forced to pay, to be allowed to carry on selling its Blackberry: but one, at least, has denounced NTP as a "patent extortion" case.

The commentator, eWeek's Jim Rapoza, [above, right] has attacked the US patent system savagely: "We were saved from a BlackBerry blackout only when RIM finally paid NTP hundreds of millions of dollars, essentially rewarding NTP for getting a bad patent through the system and using that patent to extort money from companies that actually innovate and make products," he wrote.

The actual judgement story was less clearcut, and quoted several people staunchly blaming RIM for failing to settle. But as Rapoza puts it, the NTP patent was not a good one:

"Think about it: RIM is accused of violating NTP's patents—essentially being a thief of NTP's intellectual property. RIM looks at the claims and says the patents aren't valid and that it won't reward NTP for hoodwinking the USPTO. After RIM challenges the patent, the USPTO eventually agrees with RIM, releasing several statements saying the NTP patents aren't valid."

And yet, he notes, despite the fact that the patent authorities call the patents invalid, the courts insist that RIM should pay, or go out of business.

"This has got to stop. We can no longer have a patent system that essentially works like a protection racket. (Nice product you got there—it would be a shame if something happened to it.) Use the RIM situation to remind lawmakers of how this debacle was caused by the current patent system. And maybe, finally, software and product innovation can return to the real world."