Blackberry maker loses patent suit over software

In this file photo, three people on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange display their Blackberry smartphones. Struggling BlackBerry maker Research In Motion said in June it has started laying off employees as part of a restructuring plan aimed at saving about $1 billion this year. AP/Richard Drew

A federal jury in San Francisco has found beleaguered Blackberry maker Research in Motion Ltd. liable for $147.2 million in damages for infringing on patents held by Mformation Technologies Inc.

Amar Thakur, a lawyer for Mformation, says the verdict late Friday followed a three-week trial and a week of deliberations by an eight-person jury.

Mformation, of Edison, New Jersey, sued Research in Motion in October 2008, alleging that Canada-based RIM infringed on its 1999 invention for remotely managing wireless devices. Mformation’s software allows companies to remotely access employee cell phones to do software upgrades, change passwords or to wipe data from phones that have been stolen.

Officials at RIM did not provide a comment. RIM has been struggling with plummeting sales, a declining stock and other problems.

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Tags: Blackberry smartphones , Mformation Technologies Inc. , Research in Motion