The title is not something out of a gossip magazine. It is however a patent infringement lawsuit that has been filed by BlackBerry against Typo which is a startup funded by Ryan Seacrest of American Idol fame along with entrepreneur Laurence Hallier. They were planning on coming out with a case for the iPhone 5/5S that incorporates a keyboard that looks a lot like the keyboard off a BlackBerry and would give you the functionality of a BlackBerry Q10 or Q5. Clearly BlackBerry didn’t see imitation as being the sincerest form of flattery and released the lawyers. Here’s a snippet from a press release that has just hit the wires:
“This is a blatant infringement against BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard, and we will vigorously protect our intellectual property against any company that attempts to copy our unique design. From the beginning, BlackBerry has always focused on offering an exceptional typing experience that combines a great design with ergonomic excellence. We are flattered by the desire to graft our keyboard onto other smartphones, but we will not tolerate such activity without fair compensation for using our intellectual property and our technological innovations,” said Steve Zipperstein, BlackBerry’s General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer.
This should be really interesting as this lawsuit can be seen in a couple of ways. The charitable side of me sees this as blatant infringement in which case BlackBerry is free to sue to their heart’s content. Or the cynical side of me sees this as BlackBerry needing the cash. So seeing as Typo is backed by Ryan Seacrest who one assumes has deep pockets, they at best could get some cross licensing agreement done which would net them some cash. At worst, they could win in court and get a much bigger payday.
Care to place bets on which one this is?
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
This entry was posted on January 3, 2014 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags BlackBerry, Lawsuit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
BlackBerry Drops A Lawsuit On Ryan Seacrest Funded Startup
The title is not something out of a gossip magazine. It is however a patent infringement lawsuit that has been filed by BlackBerry against Typo which is a startup funded by Ryan Seacrest of American Idol fame along with entrepreneur Laurence Hallier. They were planning on coming out with a case for the iPhone 5/5S that incorporates a keyboard that looks a lot like the keyboard off a BlackBerry and would give you the functionality of a BlackBerry Q10 or Q5. Clearly BlackBerry didn’t see imitation as being the sincerest form of flattery and released the lawyers. Here’s a snippet from a press release that has just hit the wires:
“This is a blatant infringement against BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard, and we will vigorously protect our intellectual property against any company that attempts to copy our unique design. From the beginning, BlackBerry has always focused on offering an exceptional typing experience that combines a great design with ergonomic excellence. We are flattered by the desire to graft our keyboard onto other smartphones, but we will not tolerate such activity without fair compensation for using our intellectual property and our technological innovations,” said Steve Zipperstein, BlackBerry’s General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer.
This should be really interesting as this lawsuit can be seen in a couple of ways. The charitable side of me sees this as blatant infringement in which case BlackBerry is free to sue to their heart’s content. Or the cynical side of me sees this as BlackBerry needing the cash. So seeing as Typo is backed by Ryan Seacrest who one assumes has deep pockets, they at best could get some cross licensing agreement done which would net them some cash. At worst, they could win in court and get a much bigger payday.
Care to place bets on which one this is?
Share this:
Like this:
Related
This entry was posted on January 3, 2014 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags BlackBerry, Lawsuit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.