Washington (DC) - In another setback for BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion, Ltd., late yesterday, newly installed US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts refused a request from RIM to stay proceedings in US District Court, which may be preparing to confirm an injunction against RIM.

The injunction would prevent the Waterloo, Canada, based RIM from operating its BlackBerry wireless e-mail network in the United States, which represents 70% of the company’s worldwide market.

Two weeks ago, we reported that RIM lost its bid in a US appeals court to have the patent infringement case against it reheard.

Shares of RIM had been rising almost one dollar yesterday before trading of its US shares were suspended once again. This morning, trading resumed, and prices continued to rise sharply throughout the morning, perhaps in anticipation of a settlement of the case, brought against it by patent holder NTP.