This is about as detailed an account I have read of the facts so far...really interesting stuff. Its amazing how a small potential settlement worth a few million dollars cannonballed into this.

http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060128.wxcover0128/BNStory/Technology/

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Are you there?

This is the most complete account of the story I have read. I have been following the story only recently without knowing the background. BL, thanks for the link. My company works with RIM and I am forwarding the story to my other colleagues too.

Campana may have been there first, but he was totally unsuccessful in doing anything or convincing anyone to do something with it. The only useful thing he did was register it at the Patents office. RIM developed the idea independently (they didnt steal his research), built an actual product, and then invested marketing time and money in selling the product. Campana's research amounted to nothing and the papers would have gathered dust in the patent office - except for RIM's success. I agree with RIM's lawyers that NTP is a patent troll waiting for a successful company to emerge from which to extract money.

In the early computing days, the business atmosphere was much like pirates on the high seas - Microsoft stole the mouse idea from Xerox PARC (Xerox's high tech Palo Alto Research Center); the Internet Hyperlink idea was taken from an obscure research paper filed with a telecom company (Bell if I'm not mistaken) ....

Today, in the US, patents are filed left right and centre. I have friends working at Motorola, Siemens, and 3Com - and they all have lucrative patent clauses built into their employment contracts. If they create an idea that the company files a patent for, they get lucrative bonuses as well as royalties from the income the patent generates.

My 2c worth of opinion: The patent and intellectual property right laws desperately need revamping. It is not enough to have an idea - you have to be able to utilize the idea in the real world to create a product or service that consumers buy.