The New York Times reports that the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued preliminary rejections of two wireless e-mail patents claimed by NTP, the holding company that has sued Blackberry manufacturer Research in Motion (generally referred to as RIM) over the patent claim.

NTP was incorporated to hold patents on technology developed by Tom Campana. NTP claims that Campana developed a wireless communications system for his pager company that he later patented, and that BlackBerry technology infringes upon that patent.

RIM argues that Campana's wireless technology is different than that used with BlackBerries because it only allows users to read and print e-mail, as opposed to compose, reply to and forward emails.

This has been a battle that threatens the ability of BlackBerry addicts everywhere to read their emails over lunch and furiously thumb replies as if the future of the world was at stake. George A. Romero has reportedly optioned the rights to make a horror movie based on all the conversations the BlackBerry addicts would be forced to have during lunch should NTP prevail in its efforts to shut down BlackBerry networks.

Stay tuned for more as it develops.

Technorati Tags:
blackberry, rim