In a hearing on Friday, U.S. District Judge James Spencer decided against issuing an immediate ruling on whether to impose an injunction that would shut down sales and service of the popular mobile email devices in the U.S. But what remains clear, he said, is that the jury verdict in NTP’s case against Research In Motion for patent infringement, nearly four years ago, “has not changed in any substantial or substantive way.” After nearly four hours of arguments from each company and the U.S. Justice Department, Spencer said he would take the matter under advisement and reveal his decision “as soon as reasonably possible.”

All patents remaining in dispute have been rejected. Research In Motion confirmed that it has received a copy of a Final Office Action issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the ex parte reexamination of NTP, Patent #5,436,960. This Final Office Action maintains the outright and complete rejection of all claims in the patent. All of the 3 patents remaining in dispute in the NTP vs. RIM litigation have now been rejected based in part on prior art not considered in the 2002 trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Although NTP may appeal, the rejections reflect the final opinion of the Patent Office’s Central Reexamination Unit that the 3 patents at issue in this case are invalid.

Palm announced that employees at Ariba, the leading spend management solutions provider, have adopted Palm Treo smartphones to service global customers around the clock. Powered by Good Technology’s GoodLink software and service, Treo smartphones go beyond providing secure wireless email, with access to business-critical applications. Many of Ariba’s employees currently use Treo smartphones, including the majority of the company’s sales force and services group. Ariba executives and members of the mobile sales force, IT team and services group can make and take calls, read and send email, update Excel spreadsheets, edit Word documents or review PowerPoint presentations, whether they are at the airport or in a taxi between meetings.

SnapVine has launched a new service that allows anyone to listen to podcasts from any phone, regardless of model or mobile operator. Previously, to listen to a podcast on a mobile phone you would need an iPod or a specialized smartphone. Today, Snapvine has opened up podcasting for the masses. Users of SnapVine can search a directory of podcasts, or directly enter the RSS feed of any podcast they want to listen to. They can then dial in to listen to their podcast instantly, without synching over the air or installing any specialized software on their mobile device.

The market for cheap laptops is increasing at an alarming rate. For a good reason, price. Refurbished laptops carry the same high quality of a new one, but can save 60% off the retail price. The best part is most refurbished laptops are less than six months old, so the technology is still at it’s best. Online Crazy Deals if offering refurbished laptops at discount prices.

Less than a month after releasing a security update to Winamp, Nullsoft has delivered a new version of the media player to plug serious bugs. Winamp 5.2, issued Thursday, tackles a vulnerability in the software’s handling of m3u playlist files, according to a developer posting on an online forum from Nullsoft.

Mobile network gear giant Ericsson has filed suit against mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics, alleging patent infringement. A Samsung representative in Seoul declined to comment. Patent infringement and other legal battles can be quite common in the tech sector, where companies spend heavily on research and development.

Intorine has released Cowgirl, a dynamic game suited for all ages. It features brilliant graphics, quality sound, and unique gameplay experience. Playing as a cowgirl (or cowboy) you have to catch different kinds of prizes with your lasso: cows, horses, cash bags, and bonuses. Once an item is captured, it is converted into money. Cowgirl is available on all Pocket PC (Windows Mobile) 2003 handhelds.

For about the last month, ZDNet’s David Berlind has been playing with Palm’s new Treo 700w. The PDA phone runs Microsoft’s latest greatest Windows Mobile 5.0 mobile operating system and is provisioned by Verizon Wireless’ EVDO network. People have been raving about this device but quite frankly, David is very disappointed. Here you’ll find his list of grievances against the device.

You can put videos, games, pictures and music on your cell phone. Is antivirus software next? Programs that fight viruses have become a necessary evil on Windows PCs. Now the antivirus industry is turning its attention to mobile phones–but it’s running into reluctance from cell service providers, who aren’t so sure that the handset is the best place to handle security. Verizon Wireless, one of the top U.S. mobile networks, doesn’t see a need for its customers to install antivirus software on cell phones. “At this point, that is absolutely not required by individual customers,” spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said.