Research In Motion Ltd. late last week agreed to pay US$612.5 million to NTP Inc. to settle the long-running legal fight between the two companies. RIM said the settlement includes a perpetual, fully paid license for all NTP patents. The two companies have finalized the deal and ended all litigation. The dispute with NTP, a patent-holding company, had threatened to halt RIM's BlackBerry e-mail service.

RIM last week also warned that operating results for its fourth quarter, which ended Saturday, will fall below earlier expectations, primarily because of the uncertainty surrounding the NTP litigation. RIM estimated that it got between 70,000 and 130,000 fewer new subscribers than expected during the quarter. The company expects to report revenue of $550 million to $560 million in the quarter versus earlier estimates of $590 million to $620 million.

Intel Issues Q1 Revenue Warning

Intel Corp. has warned that its first-quarter revenue will be lower than expected. The company said sales for the three months ending March 31 will be between $8.7 billion and $9.1 million, compared with an earlier estimate of $9.1 million to $9.7 million. Intel blamed the shortfall on weak demand and a loss of market share. Analysts blamed competition from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. for the loss.

ACS Wins $200M IT Outsourcing Pact