There are several reports that Virginia-based patent holding company NTP, Inc. has offered to settle its long-running dispute with Research In Motion for 5.7 percent of the BlackBrerry maker's projected U.S. sales until the patents in question expire a little over six years from now, in 2012. The settlement would take the form of a single payement.

According to Donald Stout, patent lawyer and NTP co-founder, RIM's response was to proffer an offer of its own that NTP found unacceptable. Speaking with Canada's (RIM's home country) Globe and Mail, Stout said NTP wants a settlement that doesn't linger and is final, or the handheld/e-mail vendor would have to cease U.S. operations.

Stout told the newspaper, "If they don't pay us a dime, then they're going to go out of business in the U.S." "We're not going to have continued warfare going on…We are not going to enter into a lengthy agreement with these guys," he continued.

Meanwhile, RIM's stock ended Thursday by losing value for the sixth day in a row.

Today's news follows the first public acknowledgment that the companies have in fact been talking in some time. RIM told Reuters and the Dow Jones News Service that it's been speaking with NTP through a court appointed mediator for several days yesterday.