BlackBerry Sues Typo Again Over Second-Generation iPhone Keyboard Case

[cairene2011]

Whilst I totally agree with BB here, can I just say how much I miss the BB typing experience on my iPhone?

Funnily, it was only this morning that I admired my landlady's BB Bold 9900 when I saw it lying on the table. I was a BB user prior to the rule of Social Media and even then I found its camera and Facebook integration cumbersome to say the least. Because of this, I dragged my 15" MBP, my iPod and my camera everywhere on top of my BB. Since experiencing how the iPhone unites all of these purposes, I could never go back... but man, how much do I miss the Blackberry keyboard.

le sigh...

 

[hpereznoble]

Analog keyboard

Who on planet earth buys this?

 

[miketcool]

Solve this, please.
Mr. X, a regular non rich guy, spends weeks to develop tool Y which solves a problem. Monetary investment: $10000. He believes in tool Y, he thinks there's a lot of business behind it.
He publishes his tool's information, as openly as possible. He wants to build a business around it, but needs $20000 to start the production of such tool.
He goes around crowdfunding, he talks to people etc.
Mr. Z, a rich entrepeneur and owner of a shop, thinks that tool Y is a great idea. He developes it according to Mr. X's plans.

How can:
Mr X get his 10000 bucks back?
Mr X keep his product from being stolen?
Mr X prevents Mr Z to produce the tool, putting him out of business?

Open would work in a clean world. Sharks are around us, and Mr. X has to be protected from them.

The market changes.

Mr. X will have to create a business model that offers something that Mr. Z cannot. Mr. X will also have to keep innovating, or choose to advance ideas from Mr. Z. Perhaps Mrs. G will create a business based off the product as well, with further advances on the original design. Mr. X could choose to pool resources with Mr. Z (capitalism) and buy ways to make the product more efficiently.

There is no one solution to the above proposed answer. The only thing to note, is that in this scenario, the competition and innovation required to make a successful business, along with the pooling of resources BENEFIT THE CONSUMER.

As far as I know, there is not yet a patent on pizzas. So how does a pizza shop compete against the thousands of other pizza companies without filing new patents? In the end, what matters is that there are more choices for the consumer, which fuels further innovations in pizza making and delivery. Every consumer, from low-income, to the health-conscience, have options.

Imagine how lousy the market for pizzas would be, if Pizza Hut owned the patents on making pizza.

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Would you feel differently if another person or company shamelessly copied a product or method you had developed and was making money off of it while giving you zero credit or financial benefit in return?

I find that most people who are averse to patents change their tune considerably when they try to put themselves in the shoes of the company or individual who is defending their patent.

The sad reality is that patents are necessary because there are some human beings out there who would rather blatantly copy someone else's work and pass it off as their own instead of learning from what others have done and putting forth the effort to make a better product or method.

Give me an example of someone that you know, expressing this change in opinion.

I share my ideas, and creative content freely on the internet. Out of respect, I ask that my work is credited if it is used for profit. Outside of that, as someone who regularly makes and creates new things, I am not worried that I will run out of ideas. I work with a large group of people who follow ideas like Creative Commons and Copyleft. I think when we share many of our ideas in open forums, that the partnerships it creates, are more rewarding, then working alone.

 

[Freyqq]

Ironically, this is great marketing. "The iphone case blackberry doesn't want you to have!"

 

[yaxomoxay]

As far as I know, there is not yet a patent on pizzas.

Pizza is kinda old... wouldn't be covered under a patent. And yes, pizza is GOOD!

So how does a pizza shop compete against the thousands of other pizza companies without filing new patents?

A pizza place tends not to invent anything new, there is no R&D on it, and if there is one then it's so minimal that a patent not feasable.

Imagine how lousy the market for pizzas would be, if Pizza Hut owned the patents on making pizza.

I assure you that Pizza Hut patents its processes, if legally possible.

Results of Search in US Patent Collection db for:
pizza: 6919 patents

Results of Search in US Patent Collection db for:
"pizza hut": 217 patents.

 

[roadbloc]

Why anybody would buy a Blackberry, let alone a Blackberry keyboard for your iPhone, is beyond me.

I bought a BlackBerry. After I owned an iPhone. IMO, my BlackBerry Q10 is miles better than my iPhone 4 ever was.

Different strokes for different folks my friend.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I think its hilarious that Blackberry is wasting their time trying to kill a product that will die on its own.

Until that Phorm product is available on iPhone's ... then it's not dying anytime soon. Considering the amount of sales the past 2yrs I'd say it's doing quite decently.

Either way I don't think the "look and feel" is out of question. Take a look at the keyboards of all BlackBerry's since the 850 debut and you'll see over 40 variants ... including the shape of the keys themselves along with the angles, edges etc ... the basic layout has NOT changed until the PassPort.

Numerical key layout, Symbol Key placement, ALT keys, BackSpace, Return Key, Monetary key/Speakerphone key ... ALL have not changed - again until the Passport.

Not even the Palm Treo (originals: 270, 280, 600 or the Windows Mobile 650/7xx) have the same layout as they where careful NOT to fight BlackBerry in their heyday with patent violation.

That said BlackBerry has every right to fight - especially since sales is hurting like a FaMucker.

Either way they'll probably win.

Bonus for Blackberry highlighting macrumors in their litigation request lol. After all many of their employees opted to use MacBooks so by that nature their fans of this site too.

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Why anybody would buy a Blackberry, let alone a Blackberry keyboard for your iPhone, is beyond me.

Maybe it's these 2 simplistic things the other touch screen phones still cannot offer:

1. nmemonic muscle memory for the keys?
^ Phorm has a good option for iPhone and part of OEM prototype so this could be a new dawn!

2. keyboard based hardware shortcuts - sewn into the OS.
M = Messages
C = Compose
T = Top (of any page - site or email inbox or folder inbox, twitter feeds)
B = Bottom (like the above yet opposite. iOS doesn't have this yet - wish it would).
etc etc etc. all from the home screen, some from any application, and many others catered to all applications.

 

[alexgowers]

I dislike the tiny bb keyboards and actually am bemused by anyone who favours it over a touch keyboard. The typo1 sure trade dress was infringed but typo 2 defo not it's not even similar. The patents held by BB for keyboards and functions might still be valid but I'm loathed to side with any patents that prevent anyone making a keyboard which should be licensed under FRAND anyway.

 

[avanpelt]

Typo should've done a licensing deal with BlackBerry from the start, giving BlackBerry money for each one sold. I doubt Typo's sold that many anyway; and Typo probably could've negotiated a licensing deal that would've cost them far less in total than what they had to pay BlackBerry after the first lawsuit.

Licensing would've been a win/win for both companies because Typo could keep making the cases and I'm sure BlackBerry wouldn't turn down additional revenue streams at this point. Plus, I doubt BlackBerry wants to spend their own R&D budget designing keyboard cases for the competition's phones.

 

[miketcool]

A pizza place tends not to invent anything new, there is no R&D on it, and if there is one then it's so minimal that a patent not feasable.

All successful companies have research and development. Papa Johns did not expand across the US without spending extensive amounts of money, studying and marketing to their intended demographics. Their sauces, cheeses, dough, website, stores, and delivery systems, aren't just a collection of lucky guesses. There is money to be spent in growing a business.

Yet local pizza stores, still continue to compete, and be successful against them.

It takes more than understanding how a product works, or can be built, to steal it from the maker.

 

[TallManNY]

Typo 1 was a blatant rip off. This is just something of a rip off. Blackberry could win again. But since Typo has no business model unless they make a great keyboard and they can't make a great keyboard on their own without copying blackberry, I'm not surprised that they tried to give up as little as possible by way of changes from blackberry's latest keyboard. Side note, I use Blackberry's Q10 and it is a very nice keyboard.

 

[shenan1982]

Who on planet earth buys this?

Same demographic that buys these....

"Comon man, you're livin in the past!"

It's hard for some to let go......

 

[genovelle]

I HATE patents. End them. End them ALL.

That would give companies far less interest in investing millions to create something new. Why bother when copycats can legally steal you idea and compete with you with no real expense. Many of the advancements you see today would not have been worth
The effort if the creators were not protected.

 

[CrAkD]

Obviously. This is the only way blackberry is making any money.

 

[kjjb0204]

Why anybody would buy a Blackberry, let alone a Blackberry keyboard for your iPhone, is beyond me.

Pretty typical comment from a blind iphone user. Have you even tried a bb10 device? They are fast, have great battery life and make communication so much faster and efficient compared to anything else out there. How many different places do you have to go to reply to messages on email, sms, whatsapp, twitter, fb, linkedin? On a bb10 device? One - the hub. If phone calls and communication are top priorities, nothing beats a bb10 device. If you need clash of clans, yes, you'll have to look elsewhere.

If you don't like BlackBerry, whatever, but you can't blindly deny there are not people out there for who a BlackBerry is their best fit. It's gets work done.

 

[Arcady]

I don't know, maybe the Apple lawyers who patented a rounded rectangle have the answer ?

Maybe Apple should have patented their keyboards. Because every laptop in Best Buy seems to have the same keyboard as a MacBook now.

 

[roadbloc]

Maybe Apple should have patented their keyboards. Because every laptop in Best Buy seems to have the same keyboard as a MacBook now.

Maybe they couldn't because it was actually Sony who initially designed that type of keyboard that Apple use for the Macs nowadays.

 

[AlecZ]

Then maybe they don't deserve the patent. All this does is hold back the human race for the sake of greed.

EDIT: Replaced response with something more relevant.
A patent that people spend a collective lifetime of R&D on to produce is not going to be something that someone else could accidentally create independently and have it "infringe" upon the patent. The point of patents is to protect specific designs that involve so many variables that it's extremely unlikely that anyone could make the same thing without copying it. This keyboard is an example of something that could not be accidentally made without copying BlackBerry's design.

What you said about people making patents and sitting on them forever makes sense in some situations but not in others. Maybe a company does the R&D before they can produce the product. It's really fuzzy, so IDK.

 

[miniyou64]

Sure, that will encourage companies and inventors to invest their time and money into R&D. /s

Creating a better product without a government enforced monopoly

 

[eac25]

All successful companies have research and development. Papa Johns did not expand across the US without spending extensive amounts of money, studying and marketing to their intended demographics. Their sauces, cheeses, dough, website, stores, and delivery systems, aren't just a collection of lucky guesses. There is money to be spent in growing a business.

Yet local pizza stores, still continue to compete, and be successful against them.

It takes more than understanding how a product works, or can be built, to steal it from the maker.

Your politics and mine are not compatible. I do agree with you that the patent system in the U.S. is in very sad shape. Every conclusion you've drawn from that (that you've stated within this thread, anyway) goes in a direction I can't agree with. I was most bemused by the idea that civil disobedience of laws is the way to fight those that abuse the law... I'm not going to argue all of this with you, I just wanted to state unequivocally that I am among those that disagree with you.

 

[C DM]

Who on planet earth buys this?

Those who are interested in a physical keyboard for their iPhone.

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Why anybody would buy a Blackberry, let alone a Blackberry keyboard for your iPhone, is beyond me.

Similar to how it's beyond many many people why anybody would spend time posting on internet forums (or do many other kinds of things that different people do).

 

[AlecZ]

Wow, a keyboard that looks like..... a keyboard?

How can you patent a keyboard?

Because there are millions of very different designs for keyboards out there that look and feel different. BlackBerry certainly did not patent the general idea of a keyboard on a phone.

 

[HyperZboy]

I find it ironic that the same people defending Blackberry suing over a simple keyboard would never concede that the original Windows operating system violated every Apple patent on the graphical operating system of the Macintosh.

Sure we all know Xerox invented it, but Apple used it with their permission and patented it at new levels Xerox never dreamed of. Yet most Windows users and Blackberry users (since I don't know any Mac/Blackberry user) just take that for granted.

By this line of thinking, Apple should practically own Microsoft now in litigation, but instead, they settled. In that case, Apple had no choice but to settle with cash rich Microsoft because winning would have taken the company bankrupt long before any win could happen and the computer world as we know it might not exist or the iPhone and maybe even the Blackberry as we know it.

Ponderous.

 

[johnoffthewall3]

Blackberry hasn't been innovative for years and is just trying to cash in on their past glory/inventions. Poor! Blackberry, spend your energy elsewhere.

 

[jontech]

Congrats Blackberry!

you've just been.......

SAMSUNGED!