USPTO rejects claims of NTP's US '592 in re-exam; part of Blackberry fight

The USPTO, in re-examination, has ruled against the claims of the last of five NTP Inc. patents at the center of a legal dispute between NTP and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., NTP confirmed Sept. 29. The patent is US 6,317,592.

US 6,317,592 issued on Nov. 13, 2001 and it has been cited by two US patents. It is another example of a litigated patent not cited by many US patents. It is part of a long continuation string; the patent is based on an application which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/161,462, filed Sep. 28, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,451 which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/844,957, filed Apr. 23, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,172; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/443,430, filed May 18, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,670; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/702,939, filed May 20, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,960.

In all, the examiners at the Patent Office have rejected 100% of the 1,921 claims contained in the re-examined patents filed by NTP Inc.