RIM's nemesis slaps Palm with patent suit

NTP, the company behind the epic patent infringement lawsuit against BlackBerry maker RIM, is now going after Palm.

In a lawsuit filed in District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday, NTP asserted that Palm's products, services, systems and processes infringe on NTP's patents.

NTP is claiming Palm infringes on seven of its patents, five of which it successfully proved RIM had violated. Palm's line of Treo smart phones, the Palm VII, Palm i700 and Palm Tungsten and their associated software applications and services, are each named as infringing on NTP's patents, according to the complaint.

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The Palm smart phones and PDAs named above can send and receive email by way of radio frequency to mobile processors, capabilities that NTP has patented, according to the complaint. Because Good Technology, RIM and Visto have licensed the same patents, so should Palm, the complaint argues. NTP also lists Nokia as a licence-holder, though that company is not mentioned in the complaint.

NTP is looking for an injunction on the sale of Palm products that allegedly violate its patents, as well as monetary damages - although it has not specified the amount of damages it is seeking.

An NTP spokesperson said it had no comment beyond its press release. A Palm representative said the company had no immediate comment. Palm shares fell 7.59 per cent on Monday, or $1.17, to trade at $14.24.

CNET News.com's Erica Ogg contributed to this report

Michael Kanellos writes for CNET News.com