Palm sued for patent infringement

The U.S. company that won a patent infringement lawsuit against the Canadian maker of the popular BlackBerry wireless e-mail and communication device on Monday said it is suing Palm, Inc.

NTP, Inc.'s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on Monday, alleges Palm's products, services, systems and processes infringe on seven of NTP's wireless e-mail patents.

Palm makes a range of hand-held personal data organizers and cellphones with wireless e-mail capability, including its line of popular Treo devices.

The Richmond, Va. company's suit asks the court to bar Palm from "continuing to infringe on NTP's patents" and seeks monetary damages for the alleged past infringements.

Marlene Somsak, vice president of corporate communications at Palm, told CBC News Online that the Sunnyvale,Calif.-based company would be issuing a formal statement on the lawsuit shortly.

"We're just polishing it," Somsak said.

NTP did not immediately return a voicemail message CBC News Online left for a company representative.

In March, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion of Waterloo, Ont., agreed to pay NTP $612.5 million US to settle the patent company's claims. RIM did not concede any wrongdoing.