Sunnyvale (CA) - Threatened by a potential shutdown of its Blackberry network, Research in Motion settled a patent infringement lawsuit filed by NTP with a $612.5 million payment earlier this year. Now, Palm fins itself in hot waters with NTP as well : However, the company declines to pay for patents that the company considers "doubtful."

NTP claims that Palm infringes on a total of seven NTP patents. However, according to Palm, all seven patents are currently are being re-examined by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and have been rejected by the re-examiners as invalid in an initial phase. Palm said that it "will defend itself vigorously against the attempted misuse of the patent and judicial systems to extract monetary value for rights to patents that may ultimately have no value at all."

The company said that it has been in occasional contact with NTP "concerning a license to these patents." Palm said that the most recent communication has been several months ago - at a point when each of the patents already was re-examined by the PTO. "Palm is disappointed that, after many months of silence and repeated rejections of NTP’s claims by the PTO, NTP has chosen to sue on patents of doubtful validity," the company said in a statement today.

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NTP back with a vengeance - sues Palm