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BlackBerry Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the umm-okay dept.

BlackBerry on Tuesday filed patent infringement lawsuit against Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram in Los Angeles Federal court. In a statement, BlackBerry said: We have a lot of respect for Facebook and the value they've placed on messaging capabilities, some of which were invented by BlackBerry. As a cybersecurity and embedded software leader, BlackBerry's view is that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp could make great partners in our drive toward a securely connected future, and we continue to hold this door open to them. However, we have a strong claim that Facebook has infringed on our intellectual property, and after several years of dialogue, we also have an obligation to our shareholders to pursue appropriate legal remedies.

6 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. translated by Archfeld · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since Blackberry hasn't created anything new or compelling in15 years we feel obligated to try and make some cash off our old crap, that we ripped off from ICQ/AOL/IRC and other software implementations that existed long before we came into being...

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    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    1. Re:translated by maxrate · · Score: 3, Informative

      Please check my facts, but RIM (BlackBerry) was sued/settled for something like 500 million by NTP in the USA for pretty lame reasons back in RIM's heyday. The legal system set the stage for this, I think RIM might very well be entitled to their claims and lawsuit against Facebook/etc. When RIM was doing great, these nimrods (NTP) came out of the woodwork and cashed in. RIM is doing poorly, it's time for them to make a few 'easy' bucks too it seems. Don't blame the player, blame the game.

    2. Re: translated by Brockmire · · Score: 3, Informative

      You are mistaking patents for trademarks. With patents, you don't sue right away so they can design around your patent and you get nothing, you wait a few years for damages to acrue. Then you collect a payday. But if you can fucking read, you'll see they've tried negotiations before, for years.

  2. Those who can, do... by MachineShedFred · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... and those who can't, sue.

    Blackberry (and before they called themselves that, Research in Motion) had a chance to absolutely own both smartphones and internet messaging, but they decided to play the proprietary licensing game and bleed everyone for every dime they could. Now they are a joke of a company that likely has more lawyers on staff than engineers.

    The shareholders should just vote to liquidate and let them sit in the history books where they belong.

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    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  3. Re:Duh? Maybe If They by Solandri · · Score: 5, Informative

    Blackberry had to get rid of their technical people to pay for the infringement lawsuit they eventually lost over NTP's nonsensical "email over cellular" patent. Crucially, that happened just as the industry was transitioning from phones with enhanced features, to smartphones (phones which could run any generic app). The timing of the lawsuit pretty much took the wind out of Blackberry's R&D sails 1-2 years before Apple introduced the iPhone.

    NTP's patents were eventually overturned. But that didn't help Blackberry because they'd already entered a contract to settle the patent dispute. i.e. Their payment was to stop the lawsuit, not based on the merits of the patent. There was no way for them to get the money back.

    In other words, Blackberry has been reduced to a patent lawsuit-flinging troll because they themselves were the victim of such a troll. Pity them, don't ridicule them. It could just as easily have been you if you'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  4. Re:What's the patent? by fred6666 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Which capabilities? Using a mobile's phone number as user ID? I agree it was innovative, but I don't think you can patent it.

    I strongly disagree it was innovative. It was the worst idea of the messaging world, a huge step backward.
    I don't want to contact a phone number. I want to contact a person. I don't care if that person doesn't have a phone. I don't care that person switched to another SIM card. I don't care that person moved to another country. The ID shouldn't change as long as that person is the same. And that ID shouldn't belong to a telco.
    Also, why would I want to use my phone to write messages when I have a real keyboard on my PC? I'll use my phone only when I am far from my PC.

    Whatsapp is so dumb that you can't even have two phones sharing the same whatsapp account. Connecting on whatsapp on a new phone will disconnect the old one.