U.S. to judge: Hold off on BlackBerry shutdown
Justice Department files legal brief asking for assurances that its users will be exempted from cutoff.
"We believe that there are still a number of serious questions to be answered as to how an injunction can be implemented so as to continue BlackBerry service for governmental and other excepted groups," the Justice Department said in a legal brief filed in federal court.
The department's comments were the second piece of good news on Wednesday for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, whose shares climbed.
Earlier, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sided with RIM by issuing a preliminary rejection of a fifth patent in the court battle with U.S. patent-holding company NTP.
The patent office decision means the agency has now issued non-final rejections of all five patents at issue in a BlackBerry patent-infringement case before a federal judge.
Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM is pursuing the patent office challenge as it tries to fend off the 2003 patent infringement ruling that NTP won against the company in federal court in Richmond, Va.
But the final outcome of the challenge at the patent office is likely months away, while a potentially decisive court hearing in the patent infringement case is set for Feb. 24.
U.S. District Judge James Spencer is due to hear arguments on whether to grant NTP's request for a shutdown of most U.S. BlackBerry service.
RIM's lawyers have argued that Spencer should refrain from imposing any injunction for a number of reasons, including an "exceptional public interest" in maintaining uninterrupted BlackBerry service for national security officials and other government workers.
The Justice Department said in its Wednesday court filing that NTP had not submitted enough evidence to show that government users could be exempted "without substantial hardship."
NTP has insisted information from RIM or wireless carriers could be used to create a "white list" of exempt government users.
RIM shares, which had closed up 9 percent to $73.61 on Nasdaq after the patent decision, added on as much as 1.9 percent to $75 a share on Inet in after-hours trading following the government's court filing.