Blackout threat leaves CEOs aghast

DAVOS – It’s not the sub-zero temperatures that had the corporate kingpins shivering in Davos this year but the prospect of life without their ‘Blackberry’.

After Angelina Jolie, the wireless portable e-mail device is the thing every business leader wants by his side at the annual World Economic Forum, where hundreds of chief executives, dozens of heads of state and the odd celebrity couple gather to discuss world woes and corporate trends. The hi-tech gadgets were an essential tool for staying in touch with the office and the world while negotiating the waves of interviews and meetings held during the five-day jamboree.But the chance of a Blackberry-less future at next year’s Davos summit loomed large last week when the US Supreme Court refused to review a major patent infringement ruling against maker Research In Motion Ltd.Now, a federal judge could issue an injunction to block RIM’s US business.”It’s just nuts.The idea that someone is just going to switch it off in three or four weeks, even if it’s only in the United States, is crazy,” Peter Levene, chairman of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, told Reuters.”Everybody has adapted their working habits to it.If you close it off at a stroke the damage could be colossal.”RIM has said repeatedly it has a plan that will prevent a shutdown of its US service in the event of an injunction.”Our software workaround designs remain a solid contingency,” RIM’s vice-president of corporate marketing Mark Guibert said.The legal battle over Blackberry goes back to 2002 when patent-holding company NTP Inc successfully sued RIM for using its patents.Most Blackberry users are hoping RIM will pay what some say could be as much as a billion dollars to settle with NTP or else develop alternative technology.-Nampa-ReutersThe hi-tech gadgets were an essential tool for staying in touch with the office and the world while negotiating the waves of interviews and meetings held during the five-day jamboree.But the chance of a Blackberry-less future at next year’s Davos summit loomed large last week when the US Supreme Court refused to review a major patent infringement ruling against maker Research In Motion Ltd.Now, a federal judge could issue an injunction to block RIM’s US business.”It’s just nuts.The idea that someone is just going to switch it off in three or four weeks, even if it’s only in the United States, is crazy,” Peter Levene, chairman of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, told Reuters.”Everybody has adapted their working habits to it.If you close it off at a stroke the damage could be colossal.”RIM has said repeatedly it has a plan that will prevent a shutdown of its US service in the event of an injunction.”Our software workaround designs remain a solid contingency,” RIM’s vice-president of corporate marketing Mark Guibert said.The legal battle over Blackberry goes back to 2002 when patent-holding company NTP Inc successfully sued RIM for using its patents.Most Blackberry users are hoping RIM will pay what some say could be as much as a billion dollars to settle with NTP or else develop alternative technology.-Nampa-Reuters