BlackBerry has sued Typo Products, the maker of a physical keyboard that can be attached to any iPhone 5 or 5S, claiming patent infringement.
Typo Products was co-founded by entrepreneur Laurence Hallier and American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, and currently sells just one product – the Typo Keyboard Case.
The Canadian company claims the case, available for pre-order since the beginning of January, is an obvious copy of the iconic hardware design that gave BlackBerry its name.
Typo Products, headquartered in Los Angeles, has designed the case to slip over an iPhone and offer small, angled, illuminated keys in a standard layout. It includes a 180 mAh battery charged via USB, and connects to a smartphone using Bluetooth. The accessory costs just $99 (£60). However, due to physical limitations of the keyboard, its users are unable to access Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint scanner.
“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.
To protect its intellectual property rights, the company has filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California – the home of some of the largest ever patent disputes.
Over the last three years, BlackBerry transformed from a dominant force in the telecommunications market into a niche player whose future is uncertain. It recently reported quarterly losses of around £2.7 billion – but its share price actually went up following the news, thanks to the new CEO John Chen, support of the private investors and a feasible turnaround plan.
Unfortunately, BlackBerry will have to reverse its fortunes without its creative director Alicia Keys, who left her role at the company last week.
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How on earth Blackberry thinks they have design rights over a QWERTY keyboard is beyond me - and there is nothing unique about blackberry's implementation.
Looks like the last futile throws of a dying animal.