Look at the following then ask, Why did they license?

Patent litigation

Since the turn of the century, RIM has been embroiled in a series of suits relating to alleged patent infringement. .[2]

[edit] RIM v Glenayre

In 2001, Research in Motion sued competitor Glenayre Electronics[3] Inc for patent infringement, partly in response to an earlier infringement suit filed by Glenayre against RIM. RIM sought an injunction to prevent Glenayre from infringing RIM's patents.[4] The suit was ultimately settled.

[edit] RIM v Good Technology

In June 2002, Research in Motion filed suit against 2000 start-up and competitor Good Technology[5]. RIM filed additional complaints through-out the year[6]. In March 2004, Good agreed to a licensing deal, thereby settling the outstanding litigation.[7]

[edit] RIM v Handspring

On September 16th, 2002, Research in Motion was awarded a patent pertaining to keyboard design on hand-held e-mail devices. Upon receiving the patent, it proceeded to sue Handspring over its Treo device.[8][9]. Handspring eventually agreed to license RIM's patent and avoid further litigation in November of the same year.[10]

[edit] RIM v NTP

During the appeals, RIM discovered new prior art that raised a "substantial new question of patentability" and filed for a reexamination of the patents of the NTP patents in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. That reexamination is conducted separately to the court cases for infringement. In February 2006, the USPTO rejected all of NTP's claims in three disputed patents. NTP has appealed the decision, and the reexamination process is still outgoing as of July 2006 (See NTP, Inc. for details).

On 3 March 2006, RIM announced that it had settled its BlackBerry patent dispute with NTP. Under the terms of the settlement, RIM has agreed to pay NTP US$612.5 million in a “full and final settlement of all claims.” In a statement, RIM said that “all terms of the agreement have been finalized and the litigation against RIM has been dismissed by a court order this afternoon. The agreement eliminates the need for any further court proceedings or decisions relating to damages or injunctive relief.”[citation needed]

(See also: NTP, Inc.)

[edit] RIM v Xerox

On July 17, 2003, while still imbrued in litigation with NTP and Good Technology, RIM filed suit against Xerox in the U.S. District of Hartford, Connecticut. The suit was filed in response to discussions about patents held by Xerox that might affect RIM's business, and also asks that patents held by Xerox be invalidated.[11]

[edit] Visto v RIM

On May 1, 2006, RIM was sued by Visto for patent infringement. [12]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Researc...

Be well