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BlackBerry sues Ryan Seacrest's company over iPhone keyboard
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[January 04, 2014]
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO (Reuters) — BlackBerry Ltd said
on Friday it had filed a lawsuit against a company co-founded by
"American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest that offers a physical keyboard
that can be attached to some of Apple Inc's touchscreen iPhone 5
models.
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 The company, Typo Products LLC, is currently taking pre-orders for
the $99 keyboard, which features angled miniature keys similar to
those used on many of BlackBerry's devices.
Canada's BlackBerry, a once dominant smartphone maker that has lost
market share to the iPhone and other touchscreen devices, said
Typo's keyboard infringes its own design.
The allegation has not been proven in court. Typo and Seacrest could
not immediately be reached to comment on the legal proceedings.
"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," Steve Zipperstein, BlackBerry's chief
legal officer, said in a statement.
BlackBerry posted billions in losses in recent quarters as its
latest devices sold poorly, but it has maintained a loyal niche of
customers who prefer to type on a physical keyboard.
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The BlackBerry complaint is case no. 3:14-cv-23 in the United States
District Court for the northern district of California.
(Additional reporting by Euan Rocha;
editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Gunna Dickson)
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