[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday refused to reconsider a federal court ruling that the BlackBerry [product website], the hand-held internet and email device from Research in Motion (RIM) [corporate website], violated existing patent rights. Last August, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld [PDF text] a trial court determination [PDF text] that RIM violated patents held by NTP, Inc. in making and selling the BlackBerry devices in the United States. In its brief requesting certiorari, RIM claimed that because its main e-mail switching facility was located in Canada, the company was not subject to US patent laws. The companies had reached an agreement allowing the sale of the BlackBerry in the US, but the deal fell through, and a federal court has refused [JURIST report] RIM's request to enforce the settlement. Reuters has more. Read a press release from RIM on the Court's denial of certiorari and the Court's full Order List.