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Research In Motion purchased a full-page ad yesterday - in the form of an open letter from co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis - in eight newspapers (including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal & San Francisco Chronicle) to thank those who stood by the company during the court case that threatened to shutdown BlackBerry service within the U.S.

RIM said, "As we close this chapter, we extend our sincere gratitude to all BlackBerry customers, partners and other supporters for your patience and loyalty. Your support and passion for BlackBerry is an inspiration to thousands of RIM employees as we continue to move forward in leading this market and pouring our hearts and minds into innovation and customer service."

The almost five year-old legal case closed nearly two weeks ago when RIM agreed to pay NTP $612 million dollars to settle, ending the uncertainty surrounding its status and relieving customer uneasiness. As the letter states, "the most significant result of our settlement agreement is to address customer concerns and unambiguously remove any perceived threat to the BlackBerry service."

Few BlackBerry users changed mob-e-mail service during the run up to the settlement; due to technical hurdles, cost, loyalty, robustness, and a belief that a shutdown wasn’t inevitable.

Patent holding company NTP first sued RIM for infringing on its patents for wirelessly delivering e-mail in 2001; although it never delivered a competitive product. A jury found RIM guilty in 2002 and an agreed upon $450 million settlement fell apart last year.

The letter, which appears on RIM's Web site as well, also voices RIM's displeasure with a patent system that lead to the mobile device and push e-mail market leader to paying such a huge sum to a company, NTP, that may not, in the end, hold any valid patents.

You see, while all five patents pertaining to the case received preliminary invalidations from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a couple even got stamped with final rejections. It is expected that all the patents in the case will eventually receive final rejections.

But the appeals process could take years, and U.S. District Judge James Spencer, who was losing patience, saw the patent review and the legal proceedings as two separate issues. He pushed long and hard for a settlement.

To move its business forward RIM felt it had to finally settle, notwithstanding its feelings about the merits of the case. As part of the deal, even if all NTP's patents are rejected, the holding company won't have to pay RIM back a dime.

"As to the lingering question of why the patent system should allow such a bizarre set of circumstances to threaten millions of American customers in the first place, we share your concern. The good news is that this topic is currently receiving much more attention from policymakers and the Supreme Court and we hope the patent system will evolve to close the loopholes and become more balanced", RIM said in the open letter.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case involving MercExchange and eBay, deciding whether the online auction giant willfully infringed that company's patents and should be barred from using its popular "Buy It Now" feature.

For more on what could be a landmark decision, see Feds Side Against eBay in Patent Case