Windows Phone Thoughts: Major mobile phone-related companies face possible new litigation from NTP Inc.

"The patent-holding company that won a settlement of more than $600 million from the maker of the BlackBerry said Friday it has sued six other companies in the smart phone industry. Patent company NTP Inc. is suing Apple Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., HTC Corp., Motorola Inc. and LG Electronics Inc., claiming infringement of the same patents that were at issue in its case against BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd."

If you enjoy reading about litigation in the mobile phone industry you may be in for a real treat. NTP Inc., a patent holding company in the US, made headlines in 2006 with its significant settlement with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM). At question, both in the RIM suit and now with the new companies involved, are NTP's patents for wireless e-mail technology. Particularly interesting points are that NTP Inc. does not have any commercial products, and the inventor behind the technology, Thomas Campana who died in 2004, never commercialized the technology.

This will be an interesting case to follow due to the potential far-reaching impacts of the lawsuits. There are both hardware and software aspects to the suits, which accounts for the scope of companies involved. Previously NTP has also sued Plam and the four largest wireless carriers in the US (AT&T Inc., T-Mobile USA, Sprint Nextel Corp., and Verizon Wireless). Those lawsuits have not yet been resolved.