Patent Dispute May Halt BlackBerry Sales

For the few who are still buying them

A patent dispute between Nokia and RIM could ban BlackBerry sales.

The dispute centers around a WLAN (wireless local area network) patent owned by Nokia which allows RIM devices to connect to Wi-Fi networks.

RIM licensed a number of standards-essential patents from Nokia in 2003, thinking the patent in question was included in the deal. Nokia, however, did not think the patent was included in the bargain and on Wednesday a Swedish court agreed, ordering RIM to cease manufacturing and selling any WLAN products until it reaches a royalty agreement with Nokia to do so.