Score One for Research In Motion

Research In Motion (RIMM Quote) got a bit of good news on Thursday in its long-running patent dispute with NTP.

In a provisional move, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected one of the patents at the heart of that dispute. The PTO could still change its mind, but the ruling is at least the second of its kind and represents an incremental step forward for RIM in its efforts to resist NTP's claims on the BlackBerry messenger.

Don Stout, co-founder of NTP and an attorney for the firm with Antonelli, Terry, Stout & Kraus, said he hadn't yet read the PTO's decision, but didn't seem particularly worried by it. Stout noted that the decision was part of the PTO's ongoing process of re-examining NTP's patents. ...