Research In Motion Ltd. Reported a drop of 4 percent in its second quarter earnings as a legal settlement charge offset strong sales of the company's popular line of BlackBerry devices.

For the period ended Aug. 29, the Waterloo, Ont.-based company said it earned $475.6 million, or 83 cents per share, compared to earnings of $495.5 million, or 86 cents a share, for the same period last year.

The company said the results include a charge of $112.8 million related to the settlement of a patent dispute with Visto Corp.

Excluding the charge, RIM said it would have earned $588.4 million, or $1.03 per share, for the recent period. Revenue jumped 37 percent to $3.53 billion. A

According to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters, analysts were expecting earnings of $1 per share on revenue of $3.62 billion.

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