Just when the dust had started to settle, the e-mail wars have started up again. With more than $600 million from RIM under its belt, NTP is turning its attention to Palm. Palm may not have the e-mail prominence of RIM, but considering the popularity of its Treo line in the U.S. it certainly is a target for NTP’s substantial collection of patents.

Palm didn’t take the safe way out like many of its competitors, which choose to sign licensing agreements with NTP. It obviously feels that it can come out of an intellectual property suit much better off than RIM. But the costs for Palm could be much more than just legal fees or any possible settlement. RIM saw its core business hurt after four years of wrangling with NTP, especially in the final year before its settlement when companies concerned about the possibility of the Blackberry service shutting down started looking at other e-mail providers.

Palm benefited from that flight just as much as pure-play e-mail applications vendors. And while its Treo and PDA devices are known for a lot more than push e-mail, it’s hard to argue that e-mail isn’t the most important business application for wireless. Any threat to that application should make any buyer wary. Palm has probably learned a lot from watching RIM’s ordeal so whether it chooses to settle outright with NTP or fight in court, you can bet it will try to get the NTP specter off its back as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for Palm, there’s not much corporate litigation that happens quickly these days, meaning Palm might be forced to settle quickly with NTP whether its truly infringing on its patents or not.