BlackBerry sues Ryan Seacrest-backed Typo over another iPhone keyboard

[Himanshu Arora]

BlackBerry has filed a second lawsuit against Typo, a company co-founded by Hollywood personality Ryan Seacrest and entrepreneur Laurence Hallier, alleging that the startup's latest iPhone keyboard case Typo2 also infringes on its patents.

“The Typo2 Keyboard still blatantly copies BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard trade dress designs that have been embodied in numerous BlackBerry smartphones from the 2007 BlackBerry 8800 to the current Q10 and Classic models,” BlackBerry said in its complaint filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of California, adding that the keyboard also infringes its utility patents related to the company's proprietary keyboard design, backlighting and typing automation technologies.

The company is seeking an injunction prohibiting sales of the accessory, which is available for the iPhone 5/5s as well as the iPhone 6, besides claiming monetary damages.

The first lawsuit was filed by BlackBerry back in January last year, nearly a week after the original Typo iPhone keyboard case was unveiled. A few months later, the Canadian smartphone maker won an injunction against the product.

Earlier this month, Typo Products was ordered to pay BlackBerry $860,600 in sanctions, plus attorneys' fees and costs, after the court found that the startup had blatantly violated the court's initial injunction.

Meanwhile, in an era when its contemporaries are focusing on touch-screen-only devices, Blackberry is still manufacturing phones with physical keyboards -- a couple of months ago, the company launched the Classic, a smartphone that features a traditional QWERTY keyboard as well as other signature BlackBerry phone features like a trackpad.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/59784-blackberry-sues-ryan-seacrest-backed-typo-over-another.html

 

[m4a4]

These guys need to hire new lawyers. You know, who are smart enough to know what a Blackberry keyboard looks like?

 

[cliffordcooley]

This is such horse crap! It is a small black qwerty keyboard for iPhone. How else are you going to make one look, maybe change the color? There for awarding Blackberry a patent on anything black.

 

[Lionvibez]

This is such horse crap! It is a small black qwerty keyboard for iPhone. How else are you going to make one look, maybe change the color? There for awarding Blackberry a patent on anything black.

No they have a valid patent for this and they are breaking it just like the previous version.

 

[cliffordcooley]

No they have a valid patent for this and they are breaking it just like the previous version.

Only if you leave out the concept that blackberry keyboards are the only interface for their phones. This is an adapter used as an add-on (not the only interface) , for which Blackberry does not provide. No one should be able to hold a patent on a product that does not exist. That goes against the very nature of needing a patent, which makes this BS. If Blackberry wants to maintain patent rights, they can provide their own add-on for iPhone.

 

[Lionvibez]

Only if you leave out the concept that blackberry keyboards are the only interface for their phones. This is an adapter used as an add-on (not the only interface) , for which Blackberry does not provide. No one should be able to hold a patent on a product that does not exist. That goes against the very nature of needing a patent, which makes this BS. If Blackberry wants to maintain patent rights, they can provide their own add-on for iPhone.

Unfortunately that is how the broken patent systems works and doesn't look like they will be changing it anytime soon. So until that is done this is what were dealing with.

 

[lipe123]

There is SOOO many ways you can make the keys look different than an actual blackberry keyboard, instead these bozos decided to use the identical layout and look?

If you're that stupid to blatantly violate then at least call blackberry up and say "Hey we'd like to use your keyboard layout, how much do we have to pay you to legally do that?"
Most companies are quite reasonable and would be willing to let you borrow their patents for a fee.

 

[Guest]

This is the reason blackberry will be gone in the next 5 years. They are a dying company, and to worry about things like a keyboard accessory shows their desperation.

 

[Lionvibez]

This is the reason blackberry will be gone in the next 5 years. They are a dying company, and to worry about things like a keyboard accessory shows their desperation.

The only thing desperate is your post.

Take your crystal ball and hit the door son.

 

[mctommy]

This is the reason blackberry will be gone in the next 5 years. They are a dying company, and to worry about things like a keyboard accessory shows their desperation.

The only thing desperate is your post.

Take your crystal ball and hit the door son.

He's partly right, blackberry as a cell phone mfg company has basically reduced to ashes... the only thing that is keeping them quasi-afloat is their software.

 

[Lionvibez]

He's partly right, blackberry as a cell phone mfg company has basically reduced to ashes... the only thing that is keeping them quasi-afloat is their software.

Yes but if you have been following what they have been doing since restructure . They know where there strengths are its enterprise and security and that is where the focus is going now. The consumer market is all just iphones and andriod phones and doesn't really care to have a 3rd competitor. They are not trying to retake the consumer market its a lost cause. Most of the revenue they get now is no longer from handsets.