Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry e-mail device, won a U.K. patent lawsuit against Visto Corp. over e-mail technology.

Justice Christopher Floyd in London ruled that a Visto patent for a system for synchronizing e-mail was invalid. Research in Motion had filed the lawsuit seeking to overturn the patent.

The case is the second patent ruling in the last year that Research In Motion has won in the U.K., where it has hundreds of thousands of subscribers. An appeals court on Feb. 7, 2007, said the Waterloo, Ontario-based company hadn't infringed Inpro Licensing Sarl's patent for mobile Internet devices.

``Research In Motion can now breathe a sigh of relief,'' the company's lawyer, Nicola Dagg, said in a telephone interview.

Closely held Visto makes e-mail software applications for mobile phone networks such as those operated by Vodafone Group Plc and Cingular Wireless LLC.

Visto General Counsel Tim Robbins said in a telephone interview that the case had at one point involved three patents and Research In Motion ``gave up'' on two of them prior to trial ``so we got what we wanted there.''

Visto and Research In Motion are involved in lawsuits over BlackBerry technology in the U.S., Italy and Canada, said Dagg, a lawyer at Allen & Overy in London. The judge's findings today will be ``particularly useful in the U.S. lawsuit,'' she said.

Robbins said that while he was disappointed with today's result, the case won't ``impact the U.S. litigation.'' Redwood Shores, California-based Visto hasn't decided whether to appeal, he said.

The patent at issue in this lawsuit is European Patent (U.K.) No. 996 905, according to court documents. The case is: Research In Motion U.K. -and- Visto Corporation HC-06-C03912, C04277.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Lumley in London at jlumley1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 28, 2008 13:28 EST