Research in Motion and NTP Inc have reached a settlement and signed a definitive licensing agreement. As part of the agreement, RIM will pay NTP $612.5 million USD and NTP moved to dismiss its lawsuit. The settlement also clears the way for RIM to continue sell its BlackBerries in the US without fear of further claims from NTP. The settlement is for less than some analysts had predicted with sums of up to $1 billion USD being suggested earlier. But it’s also higher than a first settlement of $450 million USD reached last year that NTP eventually backed out of.
Now that this lawsuit is out of its way, RIM can focus on dealing with the repercussions. For example, it expects to add 625,000 new subscribers in the current quarter rather than the 750,000 initially expected. It is also facing stiff competition from Palm and Microsoft.