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BlackBerry wins injunction against Ryan Seacrest’s iPhone keyboard in patent dispute

The Typo iPhone case has been blocked from sale by BlackBerry, according to a report from Reuters. The smartphone maker sued over the design of the case earlier this year, saying that it infringed on several of the company’s patents and its “iconic” keyboard design. The case is designed to add a BlackBerry-like keyboard to the iPhone 5 and 5s.

The injunction blocks the sale of the Typo, which is made by a company co-founded by TV personality Ryan Seacrest. A San Fransisco federal judge ruled that BlackBerry had established a “likelihood” that the Typo case infringed on its patents, while the case maker was unable to prove that it had not.

Seacrest invested $1 million into the company when he got tired of carrying both a BlackBerry for typing emails and an iPhone for everything else. Rather than just getting used to the Apple’s touchscreen keyboard, he decided to help fashion a case that would add a more familiar tactile keyboard to his iPhone.

The Typo is still available on the company’s web store for the time being, though it will likely be pulled soon to comply with the court ruling.

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Comments

  1. Aaron Forgas - 10 years ago

    That sucks, it’s actually a decent looking keyboard!

  2. jacksonhenneyyy - 10 years ago

    BlackBerry could actually make some money if they used this time to make keyboard accessories for iPhone’s and other smartphones; Think about it, everyone knew BB for their amazing keyboard, which to date is still almost unbeatable in the mobile world.

  3. If I were the CEO of Blackberry, I would have asked for royalties.. That way would have made at least some money :P

  4. Ron Lane - 10 years ago

    I carry BlackBerry for work and iPhone for personal use, I HATE the BB keyboard and the contortions you have to use to enter numbers and special characters. Passwords are the worst because you cannot see what you are typing.

    • Dimitri Kyriakis - 10 years ago

      That is the point for passwords… They are hidden as if someone is right beside you or behind you watching your password. Same as in a back machine, any payment method & any site.

      If you do not know how to type out your password properly you need help then. Sorry.. I know people make mistakes but if the device tells you ” Incorrect password” You retype it again. How hard is that for you?

  5. Kevweb (@kweb75) - 10 years ago

    This is where Crapberry is now, suing Ryan Seacrest? Wow! Blackberry Out!!

    • Dimitri Kyriakis - 10 years ago

      Maybe if you do some research you will see thousands upon thousands said its the same keyboard as Blackberry. Even Seacreast said it in the start but he took his words back. Blackberry is defending their patent which is the keyboard layout / keys. Go look at the Bold 9900 & Q10 Keyboard & then look at the Typo one. You will see it.

      Ryan Seacrest is a tool anyways. He thinks he can do w.e he wants without getting in shit. This lawsuit will not make him lose his $1 million that he invested in Typo but will make him pay more due to court fees/ lawyer fees & such.

      If you do some research again, you will see that Typo recently come under fire for promoting edited blogger reviews of the case that removed any statements of likeness between the two products. Media & other reviewers wrote a review on it & Typo ONLY picked the good words & made them into a sentence. Use Google & you will see this.

      In the end, Typo will not even exist let alone anyone buy a product from them after the shit they are doing.

  6. mhuggies - 10 years ago

    I’ve recently been given my first Blackberry (a curve) for work, having had an iPhone since the 4 came out. I was curious to find out what the keyboard was actually like, given that it is claimed to be the main advantage to still having a BB. Admittedly, I have had 3+ years of experience of using the iPhone’s keyboard, but I couldn’t believe how bad the Curve is in comparison. I am much faster on the iPhone and make fewer mistakes, thanks to a much better autocorrect system. I find the keys tiny and far too cramped for anything other than slow thumb typing. I have watched others use their BB’s, and I am yet to spot anyone who is typing anywhere near as fast on a BB as I can on the iPhone. Given other software keyboards have even more advantages than the stock iPhone one (swipe, swift key, BB’s own Z10), the typo seems like nothing more than a reactionary resistance to change to me.

    On this story, the typo seems like a clear infringement to me, but if enough people wanted one, it might make sense for BB to release their own. At this stage, they need to find any revenue stream they can!

  7. Howie Isaacks - 10 years ago

    After the first couple of weeks with an iPhone, I never had a problem with typing on the touch screen. I can understand some people’s issues with touch screens, but I have never understood why someone would carry around two phones just to be able to have a physical keyboard. To me, that’s a lot of trouble to go through just because you’re not good at typing on a touch screen.

  8. s - 10 years ago

    Send a message to Judge Koh. This is how it is done.

  9. Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

    As much as I would never use a physical keyboard, I still think this sucks. If Google and Samsung can copy virtually every single design aspect of the iPhone to create Android, then you’d think this keyboard would similarly be okay. The one doesn’t match the other.

    • WaveMedia (@WaveMedia) - 10 years ago

      Blackberry own actual patents for the design and layout of the keys and so on, it’s not so much a trade dress issue as was the case with Samsung and Apple. Also incase you didn’t realise, Samsung lost that case too, though the pandering since then they may as well have won.

    • s - 10 years ago

      Even worse, BB copied the keyboard idea from Handspring/Palm Treo.

      • Dimitri Kyriakis - 10 years ago

        Yet Handspring/Palm Treo never applied to get the patent for the keyboard. Just a question. Where is Palm Treo now? No where. You see Blackberry with keyboards. Palm Treo died years ago.

  10. André Hedegaard Petersen - 10 years ago

    How utterly and completely neanderthally stupid does one have to be, to see that this case dosen’t resemble BlackBerry? I hate it when designers copy other brands. Especially when Samsung copies Apple, but many companies copy and theres nothing at all to be proud about. Although I think that the BlackBerry is a poor company, who don’t “see it” when it comes to making phones, I at least support that they should get full compensation for this.

  11. itsn8o (@itsn8o) - 10 years ago

    Yes, that ICONIC QWERTY keyboard that BlackBerry invented. The Patents IT companies (including Apple) are permitted is just ridiculous.

  12. Kris Adams (@KrisAdamsTV) - 10 years ago

    Patents are annoying when a small qwerty keyboard infringes on BB’s design. All the letters are required, punctuation as well as an enter key. You want to have a shift there, to make capitals. Its basically a desktop keyboard minus the F keys, Arrows, Numpad. How else could it be designed?

    So basically, they have to redesign the keyboard so the keys are in different places to not infringe and thus annoying the users because the keys arent where they are supposed to be?

    A cool Bluetooth attachable keyboard like this would be amazing. I loved the keyboard on BB, and would love an accessory like this on my Touchscreen phone.

    Screw you blackberry.