A U.S. judge has allowed the wireless e-mail service BlackBerry to keep going, but says he expects to rule soon on a possible injunction.
District Judge James Spencer in Richmond, Virginia said that Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of the popular BlackBerry device, has infringed on patents held by NTP, the company that brought the suit. The judge heard arguments from both sides Friday and said he would rule on the issue as soon as reasonably possible.
NTP has asked for $126 million in damages as well as a BlackBerry shut-down.
RIM says that in the event of an injunction, it will begin using other technology to get around the patent problem and keep the service available for at least some of its users.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.