VeriSign said it plans to buy Certicom, just three days after Research In Motion's hostile bid for the security company unraveled.

VeriSign will pay US$1.67 per share, or $73 million, for Certicom, which develops an elliptic curve cryptography technology.

Armed with Certicom's ECC public-key encryption technology and its own SSL business, VeriSign expects to be able to enter new markets, it said.

RIM proposed its $52 million bid directly to Certicom's shareholders in December, after it said it had failed to engage Certicom in "meaningful dialog." Certicom filed a lawsuit to block the bid, charging that RIM had breached nondisclosure agreements in making its offer.

The companies announced Monday that a court had ruled that RIM breached the agreements. The ruling meant that Certicom shareholders would not be able to accept the offer, RIM said.

RIM already offers a variety of security mechanisms and also uses ECC in its products, but an acquisition of Certicom may have let the BlackBerry maker offer the technology more cost-effectively and control its development.

Certicom's board is recommending that shareholders accept VeriSign's offer. The companies expect the transaction to close in March.