Wireless email upstart Visto today announced a patent licensing deal with NTP. NTP is of course in a viscous patent lawsuit with wireless email leader Research In Motion. Terms of the deal were not announced, but Visto will not be protected for the life of NTP’s patents. The agreement was an obvious dig at RIM:

The agreement gives Visto access to NTP’s patents for the life of those patents, providing Visto’s customers and partners with access to Visto’s industry’s leading technology in the mobile email market and stability in these turbulent times.

In related news, Business Week is now saying that RIM may have to cough up to $1 billion to keep NTP off its back. Even though the US Patent Office looks to be having second thoughts on the validity of NTP’s patents.