U.S. Moves Bolster Maker of BlackBerry

The Justice Department on Wednesday urged the federal judge handling a patent dispute not to shut down the BlackBerry portable e-mail service without protecting government users who depend on it.

The department said in a court filing that it was unclear whether a shutdown of Research in Motion’s BlackBerry service would avoid causing government users “substantial hardship.”

“We believe that there are still a number of serious questions to be answered as to how an injunction can be implemented so as to continue BlackBerry service for governmental and other excepted groups,” the Justice Department said in a legal brief filed in federal court.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sided with the company by issuing a “non-final” rejection of a fifth patent at the center of its legal battle with patent-holding company NTP Inc.

The patent office decision means the agency has now issued non-final rejections of all five patents at issue. But the final outcome of the challenge at the patent office probably is months away.

Research in Motion is pursuing the patent-office challenge as it tries to fend off a 2003 patent-infringement ruling that NTP won against the company in federal court in Richmond, Va.

U.S. District Judge James Spencer is due to hear arguments Feb. 24 on whether to grant NTP’s request for a shutdown of most U.S. BlackBerry service.

Research in Motion’s lawyers have argued that Spencer should refrain from imposing any injunction for a number of reasons, including an “exceptional public interest” in maintaining uninterrupted BlackBerry service for national security officials and other government workers.

The company’s shares, which had closed up 9% at $73.61 after the patent decision, added as much as 1.9% to $75 in after-hours trading after the government’s court filing.