The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has denied a motion by Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of the popular BlackBerry series, to stay or suspend a patent infringement case from returning to the trial court, where it faces a potential court order to cease BlackBerry production and service in the U.S.

Upholding most of a patent infringement finding in favor of NTP Inc., the case will now move back to the District Court in Richmond, Virginia, for re-confirmation of a ban that would halt sales of the BlackBerry device and shut down RIM's services in the U.S.

RIM is expected to ask the court to force NTP to abide by an agreement reached in March to settle the case for $450 million.

NTP successfully sued RIM for patent infringement in 2002 and first won the injunction in 2003, but it was stayed by the judge in the case pending the appeal process.