Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Research In Motion Ltd. lost a U.S. Supreme Court bid to block proceedings that might result in a nationwide shutdown of its BlackBerry e-mail service.

U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. rejected the company's request to stop lower-court proceedings while it pursues Supreme Court review of a patent-infringement finding. The focus of the case now shifts to federal court in Richmond, Virginia, where a trial judge will consider halting BlackBerry sales and service in the U.S. for individuals and companies.

``It goes back to the district court, where he has to decide whether to grant an injunction,'' said Richard Turner, a patent lawyer with Sughrue Mion in Washington, who has been monitoring the case. ``Is there a single reason that he wouldn't? It's extremely rare that you don't.''

That process is likely to take months, patent owner NTP Inc. said today in a court filing that urged Roberts to reject the request. By then, Research In Motion will have had a chance to seek full Supreme Court consideration of its appeal, NTP said. Roberts's action today was limited to denying Research In Motion's request for a stay.

Research In Motion's U.S. shares rose 92 cents to close at $58.32 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have lost about 29 percent of their value so far this year. Shares of Palm Inc., which sells the competing Treo device, rose 12 cents to $27.

Supreme Court Review

``Judge Roberts moved NTP and Research in Motion closer to a settlement and that's what investors were hoping for all along,'' said Susan Kalla, an analyst with Caris & Co. in New York. ``NTP thinks past and future royalties may be as much as $1 billion, but our view is they could provide a discount to get the deal done, get the cash up front and avoid a re-examination of the patents.''

NTP said it has made repeated settlement offers to address RIM's business needs and that RIM failed to respond to many of the offers.

``RIM's purported parade of horribles resulting from a possible future injunction is also well within RIM's ability to control,'' NTP said.

Research In Motion, based in Waterloo, Canada, said in a statement that it plans to ask the full Supreme Court to review the case. The company said it expects the high court to say whether it will consider the appeal ``over the next few months.''

NTP's Suit

``While further review by the Supreme Court is generally uncommon, RIM continues to believe this case raises significant national and international issues warranting further appellate review,'' Research In Motion said.

Turner predicted that ``the settlement's coming extremely quickly now.''

Closely held NTP, a patent-licensing firm based in Arlington, Virginia, sued Research In Motion in November 2001. A year later, a federal jury in Richmond found that Research In Motion used NTP's e-mail technology without permission. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld part of that finding.

In its request to the Supreme Court for a stay, Research In Motion said the ``continued threat'' of the suit has depressed the company's stock price and caused uncertainty among its U.S. users.

``The threat alone of this injunction causes significant harm,'' Research In Motion argued in court papers.

Judge Spencer

NTP said it plans to ask U.S. District Judge James Spencer, who presided over the 2002 trial, to reinstate an order that would halt BlackBerry service for non-government users.

Research In Motion has said it will ask the judge to force NTP to abide by a proposed $450 million settlement that fell apart in June, which could end the legal case. The judge also has to deal with some infringement issues as ordered by the appeals court.

Even as the courts deal with the lawsuit, Research In Motion is asking the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the NTP patents. In an initial finding, the patent office rejected all of the NTP patents although NTP has a chance to respond.

The cases are NTP Inc. v. Research In Motion Ltd., 03-1615, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Washington), and NTP Inc. v. Research In Motion, 01cv767, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia (Richmond). The Supreme Court application is Research In Motion v. NTP, 05-A-357.

To contact the reporter on this story: Susan Decker in Washington at at sdecker1@bloomberg.net; Greg Stohr in Washington at 1841 or gstohr@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 26, 2005 16:47 EDT