Judge: No BlackBerry Hearing

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Virginia denied the government’s request for a hearing to discuss the mechanics of a potential shutdown of Research In Motion’s (RIM) United States BlackBerry sales and service, Bloomberg News reports via The New York Times.

Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM, the maker of the popular BlackBerry handheld, is being sued for infringement by NTP, a patent holding company.  The case is ongoing, though a jury ruled in favor of NTP in 2002.

RIM has some 3.2 million users in the U.S., Bloomberg reports.

The government has been exempted from any BlackBerry shutdown that may come as a result of the suit.

Federal District Judge James R. Spencer set this Friday as the hearing date for whether or not the ruling should result in a shutdown. According to Bloomberg, Judge Spencer’s docket yesterday contained a rejection of the government’s request.

Marisa Conway, an RIM spokesperson, declined to comment, according to Bloomberg.

James Wallace, an NTP attorney, told Bloomberg, “Judge Spencer is a very fair, no-nonsense guy, and he knows RIM would like to drag this on and on.  Whatever he decides, he’s going to decide quickly.”

For CIO’s continuing coverage of the BlackBerry debacle, check our BlackBerry on the Edge page.

Don’t forget to keep checking in at our CIO News Alerts page for updated news coverage.