Creative self-destruction of RIM.

When NTP sued RIM, the manufacturer of Blackberry phone/e-mail devices, for patent infringement, many people believed that patent trolls were the company's worst enemies. In 2006, after years of litigation, RIM ended up paying NTP a $612.5 million settlement.

It turns out, RIM's own management did a lot more damage to the company than any patent troll could even imagine. Because RIM missed on major innovation opportunities in the mobile industry, the company lost multiple billions of dollars in market value.

tags: innovation, patents, strategy, s-curve