Blackberry Goes Back To Its Roots: Sues Ryan Seacrest For Patent Infringement

from the innovators-vs.-litigators dept

Tue, Jan 7th 2014 8:10pm — Mike Masnick

Struggling also-ran Canadian maker of mobile phones, Blackberry (formerly, RIM), has quite a long history with patents. A decade ago, RIM actually was extremely aggressive in suing other companies for patent infringement. In fact, it can be reasonably argued that this was actually the beginning of the company's downfall. RIM had a somewhat dominant position in the early part of the 2000s, and then started suing pretty much every competitor (and lots of non-competitors) for patent infringement. In turn, that resulted in a bunch of other companies suing RIM, including the infamous case of the patent troll NTP, who eventually got $612.5 million out of RIM after a tremendously high-profile, years-long lawsuit that brought patent trolling to the attention of both the public and lawmakers. Of course, the guys behind NTP have admitted they only sued RIM after reading about its aggressive patent strategy first. But, more importantly, it seems clear that the aggressive lawsuits, both inbound and outbound, resulted in the company taking its eyes off the innovation ball, allowing basically everyone else to leapfrog way past it.

As the company has been basically falling apart, we've fully expected it to go full on patent troll. After all, that's pretty much what you expect of legacy companies who've lost in the marketplace and can no longer figure out how to innovate. Instead, they basically start to litigate against anyone and everyone -- and RIM/Blackberry already has that sort of trait in its DNA anyway.

So it's little surprise to hear that the company has launched a silly lawsuit against Typo Products, a company formed (of all things) by TV personality Ryan Seacrest and others, creating a physical keyboard that can attach to the iPhone 5. Blackberry claims the company "blatantly copied Blackberry's keyboard." But, it's a keyboard. There are only so many ways you can make it, and honestly, if Blackberry wasn't so focused on lawsuits all these years, perhaps it could have realized years ago that maybe it should have been making physical keyboards for the smartphones that the public actually seemed to want.

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Filed Under: blackberry, competition, innovation, keyboards, patents, ryan seacrest
Companies: blackberry, rim, typo productions

26 Comments

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Pixelation, 7 Jan 2014 @ 8:48pm

But, but, but, think of all of the lawsuits we wouldn't have without patents. Think of the lawyers. Don't change a thing.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Jan 2014 @ 8:57pm

Is it just a KB, or is it a KB with particular features that many associate with BB models such as its new Q10. After noting this article I looked around and found several BB user articles noting the similarity of the "look and feel" between this KB and BB's KB. This suggests to me that while the lawsuit may perhaps be ill advised, there may be some underlying merit. Given that this KB is iPhone 5 specific, I would not at all be surprised that this is a challenge to Apple, but using Typo as a proxy.

BTW, BB does make some very good products, but my experience is that its reliance on its proprietary OS in not exactly a strong selling point. Like it or not, for the time being iOS and Android rule the day, with Android increasing its lead on what seems like an hourly basis.
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Just Sayin', 7 Jan 2014 @ 9:46pm

Really?
" it seems clear that the aggressive lawsuits, both inbound and outbound, resulted in the company taking its eyes off the innovation ball, allowing basically everyone else to leapfrog way past it. "

Revisionist history? Blackberry's issues have much more to do with having a proprietary network and way of doing things, and that they pretty much backed themselves into a corner by sticking with it no matter what. Their true failure isn't one of lawsuits, but rather in only making a half hearted attempt to meet the surge of Iphones and Android devices head on, with OS / firmware / screen top / phone design that pandered too much to their past and not enough to where people where going.

They didn't lack innovation, they jumped - in the wrong direction. Nothing in lawsuits changed that.
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That One Guy (profile), 7 Jan 2014 @ 10:13pm

You know, the article might be over-thinking it, maybe they just really wanted to do something unpleasant to Seacrest, and this was the best they could come up with?
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PaulT (profile), 7 Jan 2014 @ 10:25pm

"But, it's a keyboard. There are only so many ways you can make it"

No, it's a keyboard that attaches to a PHONE! It's completely different!

It's like something that's blatantly obvious becoming genius innovation because you add the words "on the internet", nobody else could possibly have thought of this without stealing someone else's idea!

In all seriousness, I don't know the specifics of the hardware and lawsuit here and there might be something being sued about that's not the very simple idea of have a physical keyboard on a phone. If not, I can't help but wonder whether RIM would have a product at all if their predecessors had patented/copyrighted things like the QWERTY layout and shift key that they depend on for their own "innovation".
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krolork (profile), 7 Jan 2014 @ 10:27pm

We just need to let BlackBerry breathe its few last breaths. If this is all they have left, it's pathetic, but let them.

They'll be remembered for kicking and screaming their way out of consumer's hands.
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Reality Check (profile), 8 Jan 2014 @ 3:58am

It's more than just a keyboard. Frankly it all makes sense if you add the missing word:

Cyber-Keyboard

Case closed.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2014 @ 4:31am

Re:
And since the phone can connect to the internet - the keyboard is kinda internetty itself! AN INTERNET KEYBOARD!
And an 'internet anything' is, of course, something entirely different than a 'regular anything'.

Inno-fucking-vate me till I fart!
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2014 @ 4:51am

600 million dollars for a fucking rim job? WTF
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2014 @ 5:46am

Have you seen the keyboard?
The company's financial troubles have little to do with this lawsuit. You should have provided a link to the keyboard for people to see that it's basically a complete copy of BlackBerry's design. BlackBerry is well justified in this case. Here it is:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/01/blackberry-sues-ryan-seacrest-firm-over-iphone-case-th at-looks-like-a-blackberry/
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scotts13 (profile), 8 Jan 2014 @ 6:05am

Re: Have you seen the keyboard?
Yes, I've seen it. There's a fine line between mechanical necessity (hey, it's a keyboard!) and unnecessarily blatant copying, and I think this product goes a little too far in the latter direction. BUT (and of course IANAL) this would seem to me more a trade dress issue than a patent one. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

One thing that IS clear is that Blackberry would be better off expending their efforts elsewhere.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2014 @ 7:07am

Re:
You know, the article might be over-thinking it, maybe they just really wanted to do something unpleasant to Seacrest, and this was the best they could come up with?

I guess they could always try to come up with some photos from when Seacrest did that tech review show back in the 90s and share them around. The bleach-blonde hair just about glowed. (Funny that his bio has pretty much been scrubbed of that...)
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2014 @ 7:15am

Do they really need a reason?
They should be suing Ryan Seacrest just for being Ryan Seacrest.
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Andrew D. Todd, 8 Jan 2014 @ 7:23am

Prior Art From The Mainframe Era.
I should point out that the Blackberry keyboard layout is substantially derivative of the old IBM Mainframe keypunch arrangement. The principal difference is that the Blackberry keyboard has the numeric keys on the left side instead of the right side.
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DannyB (profile), 8 Jan 2014 @ 7:35am

These patent lawsuits serve an important function
These patent lawsuits over design serve the important function of preventing confusion in the marketplace.

Now raise your hand if you are confused between a Blackberry device and an iPhone with a Typo keyboard attached. Anyone? Anyone?
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LAB (profile), 8 Jan 2014 @ 8:00am

Re: Have you seen the keyboard?
Thank you. I read the story days ago and agree.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2014 @ 10:56am

Re: These patent lawsuits serve an important function
I find it very confusing because I am a total moron. I am glad that Typo Products is being sued because they are obviously trying to rip off Blackberry by stealing their designs.
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John Fenderson (profile), 8 Jan 2014 @ 11:32am

Re: Re: These patent lawsuits serve an important function
The design is similar to BB, true enough. I don't know if it's infringingly similar, though, as I'm not familiar with what the design patent covers.

However, I think it's 100% wrong to call this a case of "ripping off" Blackberry. In what sense would this product deprive Blackberry of customers or revenue? Unless I'm mistaken, Blackberry does not manufacture add-on keyboards for other devices.
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Alana (profile), 8 Jan 2014 @ 4:23pm

I want to file a patent on suing for patents.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2014 @ 7:46pm

Re:
A copy of the complaint filed in this matter can be found at:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/195600079/BlackBerry-vs-Typo-Patent-Suit-Main-Filing
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Andrew D. Todd, 9 Jan 2014 @ 12:18am

Re: Re: Re: These patent lawsuits serve an important function
As I previously noted, the basic keyboard layout of a BlackBerry, with a QWERTY keyboard superimposed on a numeric calculator keyboard, is substantially derivative of the old IBM keypunches. I know that I used such a keypunch in 1981, but they go back much further, perhaps to 1935 or so.

As for button shapes, size, spacing, etc., I think it might be useful to look at old VCR remotes, digital alarm clocks, etc. There were a lot of them manufactured in the 1980's, before the patent horizon. A VCR remote solves the same character input problem as a BlackBerry tablet computer-- it just doesn't do very much with the information received. You will find that, as a matter of sheer random chance, the remotes touched all the bases.

I have an old Radio Shack clock radio, dating from 1995, which has a snooze button of the same shape which Blackberry has patented. It is of course designed to be operated while half-asleep.

I also have an Emerson VCR-3002 Video Cassette Recorder, purchased about fifteen or twenty years ago. This VCR has a remote, and the remote has a numerical keyboard, base around the system of small buttons at comparatively large spacing, relative to the button size, so that the spacing between buttons can be approximately half of the diameter of a thumb.

I think that when you combine these references, you are in a fair way to having a BlackBerry keyboard.

---------------------------------------------------------
Classic Radio Shack Chronomatic 290 Am FM LED Alarm Clock Radio-- Instruction sheet, dated 5/8/95

http://support.radioshack.com/manuals/ome12-1590a.pdf

Picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37954359@N08/4320416856/

NB. The butterfly on the top is a user modification. My radio does not have a butterfly.
---------------------------------------------------------
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John Fenderson (profile), 9 Jan 2014 @ 10:30am

Re: Really?
Actually, their proprietary network was the precise reason why BBs were so popular, because they were actually very secure.

What did BB in had more to do with their caving to certain governments to allow them to eavesdrop on BB communications over that network. As soon as that happened, they lost their only real advantage. There was no longer any compelling reason to use Blackberries.
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John Fenderson (profile), 9 Jan 2014 @ 10:32am

Re: Re: Have you seen the keyboard?
this would seem to me more a trade dress issue than a patent one

The "patent" involved here is a design patent, not a functional (real) one. So it really is a trade dress issue.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Jan 2014 @ 11:11am

Re: Re: Re: Have you seen the keyboard?
Check the complaint linked at 20 above. Case involves 2 utility patents, 1 design patent, and various state statutes dealing with unfair competition. The complaint is quite instructive in helping one to understand that not all keyboards are created equal. My admittedly quick visual analysis reveals why BB is not thrilled with what Tyco is doing, and that even morons in a hurry might be taken aback with what look almost like a clone of the BB keyboard.
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Andrew D. Todd, 10 Jan 2014 @ 6:22am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Have you seen the keyboard?
Trade dress and design patents only apply to the ornamental features of an object, not to the utilitarian features. In its two utility patents, Blackberry has laid out the utilitarian rationale for the way the BlackBerry keyboard is shaped and arranged. That said, Blackberry must stand or fall on its utility patents. There is a lot of component-wise prior art. KSR vs. Teleflex affirms the obviousness of systematically combining prior art. The "ordinary inventor" is expected to make a systematic search for similar or analogous devices, build up feature-matrix documents, and assemble a "best-of-the-best" design. That said, BlackBerry's utility patents would appear to be deeply flawed. BlackBerry did not really invent anything new, it only borrowed things which were already in use, and its patents are correspondingly weak.
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btrussell (profile), 14 Jan 2014 @ 3:07am

Re:
No. $600 million for getting rimmed!
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