RIM And Motorola Both Getting Sue-Happy

Bloomberg’s got the scoop today on RIM and Motorola’s recent lawsuits over – you guessed it – patent infringement. You’d think by this time, RIM would have learned their lesson in regards to getting swept up in patent lawsuits, but I suppose some things never change. Motorola filed suit on February 16th in Marshall, TX courts (2nd most popular place for patent infringement lawsuits, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers) claiming that RIM was willfully infringing on patents in their 8100, 8130, 8320, 8800, 8820, and 8830 handsets. The patents cover remotely storing contact information and recognizing incoming phone numbers, neither of which any Motorola products seem great at, but that’s beside the point.

RIM promptly counter sued in Dallas, claiming Motorola is willfully infringing on their patent for ‘a keyboard optimized for use with the thumbs’, among other things.

Am I the only one who steps back from most of these patent infringement cases and sees two 3-year olds fighting on the playground because someone else is playing with their toy? I can understand if your R&D department comes up with something *really* cool, but can you really patent something like a thumb keyboard or a phone with essentially caller ID? I wish a court would someday slam the hammer down and say, “you both owe this court $2 million dollars and a heartfelt apology for acting like children.”