Oh the indignity: RIM sued over mobile pager tech

Can a patent suit be tossed out because it’s wantonly cruel? That’s a question a judge will soon have to deal with because Research In Motion has just been slapped with a lawsuit that alleges the company has been infringing upon cutting-edge technology patents related to… two-way pagers. The suit, which is being filed by a company called Mobile Telecommunications Technologies LLC (MTEL) based in Lewisville, Texas, is taking RIM to task for allegedly infringing patents that were formerly owned by SkyTel Communications.
Included among the IP being used by MTEL are patents for a “two-way communication system for communication between a system network and a mobile unit” and a “mobile paging telephone call back system and method.” As All Things D’s John Paczkowski notes, these patents are both “broad” and “dusty,” and they’re probably the last thing RIM wants to spend resources on during a time when it’s already struggling to remain competitive against iPhone and Android.
MTEL, for what it’s worth, has also filed a similar patent suit against Clearwire, so the company seems to have developed a charming business strategy of kicking companies when they’re down.