Last week, stockholders in BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion apparently drew inspiration from the fact that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has turned thumbs down on several patent claims by NTP.

Yet at least according to to two attorneys who specialize in intellectual property law, that positive feeling may be premature. The reason? Because, at least in one interpretation, what the Patent Office decides in patent cases has little influence on what courts decide.

"Just because (a patent) has been rejected, it's an early stage.. it doesn't mean it's going to end up that way," San Francisco attorney Neil Smith tells Troy Wolverton of investment news site TheStreet.com today. "The patent may well come out stronger."

Intellectual property lawyer Jeff Schwartz of Washington, D.C.-based Schwartz Sung & Webster agrees. Schwartz adds, in effect, that he doesn't think the patent rulings will cause NTP (which is to receive a $450 million patent infringement settlement from RIM) to walk away.

"It's not likely that NTP will walk away from the patents because of the (Patent Office) rejections," Schwartz tells Wolverton. "They (NTP) will come out of it with something, most likely."