BlackBerrry wins preliminary injunction against Typo case for iPhones

BlackBerry has won an injunction against Typo Products LLC, the makers of the Typo Keyboard cases for iPhones.

The $99 case, which does have a striking resemblance to legacy BlackBerry devices, snaps on to iPhones allowing for easier typing than the native virtual keyboard.

Ryan Seacrest, the producer and TV personality, founded the company and is its largest investor. District Judge William Orrick said BlackBerry "had established a likelihood" that it could prove Typo infringed its patents. Typo could not, at least initially, prove otherwise.

With the preliminary injunction, Typo is now prohibited from selling the keyboard. "BlackBerry is pleased that its motion for a preliminary injunction against Typo Products LLC was granted. This ruling will help prevent further injury to BlackBerry from Typo's blatant theft of our patented keyboard technology," a spokesperson added (via Reuters).

"Typo will continue to make and sell innovative products that busy people can't live without," said Typo, who promised to appeal the decision.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Mar 2014 16:13

KillerBug

Patents are such a load these days. Apple owns the rectangle, Fluke owns Black on Yellow (in spite of only making dark grey on yellow), and BlackBerry apparently owns the keyboard as long as it is under a certain size, even if it is just a phone accessory like blackberry has NEVER made, being sold to people who wouldn't buy a blackberry anyway, at a time when even blackberry is trying to kill off their physical devices?

30.3.2014 17:04 #1

Morreale

Originally posted by KillerBug: Patents are such a load these days. Apple owns the rectangle, Fluke owns Black on Yellow (in spite of only making dark grey on yellow), and BlackBerry apparently owns the keyboard as long as it is under a certain size, even if it is just a phone accessory like blackberry has NEVER made, being sold to people who wouldn't buy a blackberry anyway, at a time when even blackberry is trying to kill off their physical devices? Yes f*** the man and so on.

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30.3.2014 21:36 #2

KillerBug

They are similar at a glance, but other than the qwerty layout it isn't that close. The angles on the edges of the keys are different, the alt keys are in different places, there are more keys on the Typo, and perhaps most importantly, the BB keyboard is part of the device. The Typo is an add-on; something that blackberry isn't offering. Patents are meant to prevent competition from people who didn't invent/design/develop a concept. As blackberry does not sell keyboard accessories for iPhones (or even for their own non-keyboard phones), it is an abuse of the law to block a non-competing product. BTW...here is a PHONE with a full QWERTY keyboard from 2008 that blackberry didn't mess with because it was made by a large corporation that could defend itself:

30.3.2014 22:22 #3

biglo30

Originally posted by KillerBug: They are similar at a glance, but other than the qwerty layout it isn't that close. The angles on the edges of the keys are different, the alt keys are in different places, there are more keys on the Typo, and perhaps most importantly, the BB keyboard is part of the device. The Typo is an add-on; something that blackberry isn't offering. Patents are meant to prevent competition from people who didn't invent/design/develop a concept. As blackberry does not sell keyboard accessories for iPhones (or even for their own non-keyboard phones), it is an abuse of the law to block a non-competing product. BTW...here is a PHONE with a full QWERTY keyboard from 2008 that blackberry didn't mess with because it was made by a large corporation that could defend itself:

I actually think this is a justifiable block because it looks almost exactly like the blackberry keyboard. If it looked the HP you have posted there I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have checked for it at all. I mean if you wouldn't have known any better you would have think that add on was a Blackberry product.

31.3.2014 08:36 #4

molsen

Problem was Secrest let it be known he has a BB and wanted the querty keyboard for he iPhone, which always used except for texts.

31.3.2014 12:00 #5

KillerBug

Originally posted by biglo30: I actually think this is a justifiable block because it looks almost exactly like the blackberry keyboard. If it looked the HP you have posted there I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have checked for it at all. I mean if you wouldn't have known any better you would have think that add on was a Blackberry product. The HP I showed is just one of many, many qwerty "on the face" phones made by companies other than blackberry over the years. The point is that blackberry should be able to sue people for copying their keyboard...but if they can sue just because a keyboard looks somewhat similar, in spite of feeling different and having different key locations, then basically no one except HP and BlackBerry would be allowed to make any small keyboard because all small keyboards look somewhat similar to one of them (other than techie-only stuff like hex keyboards). This would be bad enough if both of these companies were making such phones (and add-ons for other phones)...but this is especially destructive when HP has stopped making such phones and BlackBerry's plan for the immediate future is to kill off their handsets (blackberry can't make it...so they don't think anyone else should either?)...and neither of these companies has ever made an snap-on keyboard for any phone; not even their own devices.

BTW...just to be clear...I don't have an iPhone, and I wouldn't want a Typo even if they were selling it for my Android...I think it is a silly idea, and if I wanted an add-on keyboard I would go with one of the slide-out versions so I wouldn't pocket-type. I also really dislike the guy behind the company. BUT I respect his right to bring a product to market that at least some people will want, and I do not respect blackberry for blocking a product that doesn't compete with them or use their patented designs, simply because they consider it to be in the same general spirit as their product, which isn't selling.

31.3.2014 17:56 #6

biglo30

Originally posted by KillerBug: Originally posted by biglo30: I actually think this is a justifiable block because it looks almost exactly like the blackberry keyboard. If it looked the HP you have posted there I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have checked for it at all. I mean if you wouldn't have known any better you would have think that add on was a Blackberry product. The HP I showed is just one of many, many qwerty "on the face" phones made by companies other than blackberry over the years. The point is that blackberry should be able to sue people for copying their keyboard...but if they can sue just because a keyboard looks somewhat similar, in spite of feeling different and having different key locations, then basically no one except HP and BlackBerry would be allowed to make any small keyboard because all small keyboards look somewhat similar to one of them (other than techie-only stuff like hex keyboards). This would be bad enough if both of these companies were making such phones (and add-ons for other phones)...but this is especially destructive when HP has stopped making such phones and BlackBerry's plan for the immediate future is to kill off their handsets (blackberry can't make it...so they don't think anyone else should either?)...and neither of these companies has ever made an snap-on keyboard for any phone; not even their own devices.

BTW...just to be clear...I don't have an iPhone, and I wouldn't want a Typo even if they were selling it for my Android...I think it is a silly idea, and if I wanted an add-on keyboard I would go with one of the slide-out versions so I wouldn't pocket-type. I also really dislike the guy behind the company. BUT I respect his right to bring a product to market that at least some people will want, and I do not respect blackberry for blocking a product that doesn't compete with them or use their patented designs, simply because they consider it to be in the same general spirit as their product, which isn't selling. Thats Understandable.

31.3.2014 21:04 #7

kutulu1

Good news.

4.4.2014 21:07 #8

pmshah

17.4.2014 21:59 #9

pmshah

Keyboard layout is very critical for any individual. I am still not comfortable with all the funny layouts on the desktop keyboards like the large Delete keys, etc. I have 3 brand new keyboards with traditional layout locked in my cupboard. Clearly the man, probably in consort with Apple, was trying to wean away BB loyals to iPhone such that they would be comfortable from day one. No doubt they couldn't care less for the $99/= price tag as they have already proven they ha=ve money to burn !

17.4.2014 22:06 #10

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