What do you do after you squeeze a $612.5m patent settlement out of Blackberry maker Research in Motion? You take a long vacation and six months later, you target a new victim.

Patent holding company NTP today filed a lawsuit against Palm. Just like the infamous Blackberry case, the company demands payment for its patents around a mobile email devices.

But this time NTP doesn't hold as many trump cards as it did in the Blackberry case.

06 Nov 2006

Most importantly, Blackberry was forced to settle because the alternative would have been to disable its services in North America. The US Supreme Court meanwhile has overruled an earlier judgment that required a default injunction.

This time, NTP will have to proof that Palm's patent infringement is causing "irreparable injury". That might proof a tough challenge. NTP doesn't make anything – it solely exists to milk some email patents. In other words, it doesn't matter to NTP's business if Palm infringes on its patents or not.

While this may not help Palm protect itself against the actual claim, it makes this a much more even battle.

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