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BlackBerry Sues iPhone Keyboard Maker Typo
judgecorp writes "Typo Products, which makes a physical keyboard for the iPhone 5 and 5S is being sued by BlackBerry. The firm — co-founded by media personality Ryan Seacrest — provides an iPhone case which includes a physical keyboard, whose keys are sculpted very like those of a classic BlackBerry phone. '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."
who?
The name of a smartphone keyboard manufacturer is Typo?
Also, Ryan Seacrest is a founder of the company.
their attorney will need to spend his entire opening argument introducing the jury to Blackberry phones.
They shamelessly copied the look of the BlackBerry keyboard. So what. The design of a QWERTY keyboard isn't an original work of authorship, nor is it nonobvious, nor are QWERTY keyboards associated with BB in the minds of members of the public.. No copyright, no patent, no trademark.
Case dismissed.
BB should buy the thing if it has any money left.
Who says it's their only move? Apple sues others trying to imitate the "Apple experience. Is Apply dying?
I used to be like that as well (although never liked the BlackBerry keyboards). Swype on Android changed my mind in a big way.
The article doesn't clarify if BlackBerry patented the keyboard layout and set up, and whether the patent is still in effect.
If so, they are well within their rights to enforce it. Typo Products can probably work out a deal with them, et tutti contenti.
If the patent has expired, or if it was never granted/never filed... suck it, BlackBerry. You should know better.
Cheers!
http://eugeneciurana.com | http://ciurana.eu
It's funny, when the Blackberry Curve came out, I remember thinking of how much the keyboard and layout reminded me of my Treo 600...
And now, ~10 years later, Blackberry is suing someone for something they didn't even create... I don't see Handspring/Palm/PalmOne having a tiff about it (but then again, maybe if they sued everyone who came out with something more desirable than their product, they might still be around soaking up others' profits...)
Don't get me wrong. I believe that someone who creates something has a right to profit off of it, without some second-rate hack coming in and stealing the idea out from under them.
But, seriously, the keyboard design? It wasn't original when it was on the Blackberry, and it still isn't original now that Blackberry is going the way of the dodo.
Anyone who praises the BB10 UI, I don't want to know or develop with. It's multitasking is hardly impressive, I have used a variety of new phones and I can honestly draw the comparison from my own testing. Android blows the Blackberry out of the water, through the roof and through the sky, it's actually very sad.
As for hiding under buttons and menu's, go into the Hub and press delete without opening a menu, when you can't do that, try to forward a message without going into a menu. If you, as a company, push new mobile innovation, make sure it's amazing and well laid out. BB10 has the chance to become ergonomic and usable but it's going to take a large UI redesign, in the way a user interfaces to the platform, that is what they badly messed up and that is what needs a massive overhaul.
I know approx, 7 people who raved about Blackberry, were very excited about BB10, were expecting to pick up the Z10 and Q10 and support the company. 6 of them, including my father, hate the Q10 and Z10 so much that they have now cursed the death of Blackberry. My dad's own words, "Fuck this horrible piece of shit, did anyone at the Blackberry even given a second though to the interface!" If you like the phones the cool but I personally, and many I know, hate them. I've heard the platform cursed about 10:1, as in for every 10 people who hate it, 1 likes it.
It is all about how the keys look, not that it is a keyboard. The beveling on the keys are made to make it easier to type with your thumbs. I see the novelty in it, but am not sure it should be patentable. Look for yourself:
http://typokeyboards.com/
http://www.dogtownmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/blackberry-mobile-acquired.jpg
I used to be like that as well (although never liked the BlackBerry keyboards). Swype on Android changed my mind in a big way.
Exact opposite for me. I tried "swyping" for about 30 seconds before purging it from my phone with extreme prejudice. Regular QWERTY on a touchscreen is bad enough. I really want my H/W keyboard back.
I am not a crackpot.
Yeah, recently used my mother-in-law's phone over the holidays, and I have to say that I abhor the Apple keyboard. The keys always show upper case letters, which comping from somebody who's used to Android, I found this quite annoying. The only difference between "shift" being pressed is whether or not the arrow is filled in, and I can't tell you if filled in arrow means that the shift key is on or off.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Tech company main sequence: start as a brightly shining innovator, make too much money, get mired in politics, run out of ideas, run out of money, collapse into a dark, trollish corporate remnant. Blackberry has officially become the latest troll star.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.