Blackberry settles.

Looks like cooler heads have prevailed in this whole mess.

RIM has paid NTP $612.5 million in a "full and final settlement of all claims," the companies said.

I agree with the judge too on this:

"He basically questioned the sanity of RIM, and said it wasn't acting very rationally," said Rod Thompson, patent attorney at Farella, Braun and Martel in San Francisco. "His prodding of the parties worked."

It really looked like RIM was acting on emotion and anger and not thinking things through. That shutdown would have dealt them a mortal blow that they might never have recovered from. It was a true tipping point moment.