BlackBerry isn’t happy with Typo’s decision to release another “newly designed” physical keyboard accessory for the iPhone. BlackBerry previously won the court case against the Ryan Seacrest funded company which was ordered to stop selling the product completely.
Typo was given a preliminary injunction followed by massive $860,000 sanctions due to selling the Typo outside of the US, which violated the injunction. BlackBerry are not happy with Typo’s decision to release and sell the Typo 2, another knock off BlackBerry type keyboard in which BlackBerry described as “slavishly copied…down to the smallest detail, including the layout of the keyboard itself, the shapes of the keys, and the surface sculpting of the keys.”
“Just as they did with the Typo Keyboard, Defendants have again copied numerous proprietary BlackBerry designs and patents in the Typo2 Keyboard,” states the complaint. “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. The Typo2 Keyboard also infringes numerous BlackBerry utility patents related to BlackBerry’s proprietary keyboard design, backlighting and typing automation technologies.”
The lawsuit quotes various product reviews in the press that make comments like the “Blackberry influence remains,” and stresses that Typo has willfully copied “instead of re-designing their product to steer clear of BlackBerry’s trade dress designs.”
BlackBerry is not holding back on the types of damages and is determined to put an end to this. In all honesty, Typo should give it up.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter