In a case that could pose significant complications for school leaders and other users of the popular BlackBerry wireless eMail device, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday refused to hear an appeal from the device's maker in a long-running patent dispute.

The high court's refusal to hear Canada-based Research In Motion Ltd.'s (RIM's) appeal means that a trial judge in Richmond, Va., could impose an injunction against the company and block BlackBerry use among owners of the device the United States, including administrators, teachers, and students in many schools and districts.

The justices had been asked to decide on whether U.S. patent law is technologically out of date in the age of the internet and the global marketplace. The court's refusal to hear the BlackBerry lawsuit was disappointing to those who sought clarification on an increasingly thorny aspect of law--namely, patent claims, in which excessive litigation threatens innovation and ultimately hurts consumers (see story: 'Submarine patents' menace innovation).

The court's decision not to rule also could have considerable implications for the more than 3.3 million people who subscribe to BlackBerry's services in the United States.

Though RIM does not break down its sales figures by industry, BlackBerry devices have been cropping up in schools with increasingly frequency in recent years.

In 2002, the Miami Dade County Public Schools in Florida, reportedly the nation's fourth largest K-12 school system, purchased 150 of the devices for administrators to communicate with one another in the event of an emergency.

Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Public Schools, has used his BlackBerry device to write personal responses to potential fundraisers and donors across the district, according to published reports. And schools such as the University of Maryland, College Park, and American University in Washington, D.C., also have experimented with the technology, using the handheld devices to bolster communication among students, teachers, and mentors in undergraduate business programs, for example.

But experts following the case say these and other initiatives could be in jeopardy, given the most recent developments.

At issue is how U.S. law applies to technology that is used in a foreign country and allegedly infringes on the intellectual property rights of a patent-holder in the United States.

The justices were asked to decide whether RIM can be held liable for patent infringement when its main relay station for eMail and data transmission is located in Waterloo, Ontario, outside U.S. borders.

RIM was challenging a ruling by a federal appeals court that found the company had infringed on the patents held by NTP Inc., a tiny northern Virginia patent-holding firm, because RIM's customers use the BlackBerry inside U.S. borders. The panel said it did not matter where the relay station is located.