vB Easy Archive - RIM sues Samsung over Blackjack

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RIM sues Samsung over Blackjack
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Posted by: Neutron1998

Interesting:

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/12/11/rim_sues_samsung/

"Waterloo (ON) - Research in Motion is jumping on the lawsuit gravy train by suing Samsung over its naming of the BlackJack phone. RIM thinks the BlackJack name is too close to its line of Blackberry email-fetching saying in the lawsuit that the name is a "false designation of origin" and dilutes the Blackberry trademark.

Samsung launched the quad-band BlackJack in early December to much fanfare. The phone runs the Windows Mobile operating system and has a full QWERTY keyboard for text input, something the BlackBerry has had for years.

Of course tech savvy folks would never mistake a BlackJack for a Blackberry, but RIM is basically saying the name is too close for comfort and that some people could unknowingly buy a BlackJack, when they actually wanted a Blackberry.

RIM filed the lawsuit last week at the United States federal court in Los Angeles, California. Of course the company is no stranger to lawsuits and back in March it settled a nasty patent battle with NTP, a patent holding company, for $612.5 million dollars.

Interestingly enough, Cingular Wireless sells both the Samsung BlackJack and the RIM BlackBerry for its cellular network."

Posted by: graphiteRT

Hmmm, why not shotgun the deal and sue anyone using a word starting with "B"?

What would business be without an ambulance chasing episode or two per week.

Posted by: rkdiddy

Wow, that is about the lamest thing I've ever heard. Is RIM really that hard up for cash.

RIM get a life!

Posted by: xj911

I guess they will go after the "Black" Motorola Q next?

Posted by: mobilehavoc

People laugh but you'd be surprised how non-tech savvy folks could easily confuse Blackjack and Blackberry.

The lawsuit seems excessive but I can understand why they would be concerned the names are close.

Posted by: TriAxis

I am so sick of RIM. This is like their 4th lawsuit in 2 years. God I hope they lose this case. I will never ever buy a Blackberry because of these practices.

Posted by: thinlyveiled

I noted this (in a sense) last month.

Posted by: dgelfuso

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinlyveiled

I noted this (in a sense) last month.

Maybe you gave Blackberry the idea to sue Samsung?

Posted by: thinlyveiled

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgelfuso

Maybe you gave Blackberry the idea to sue Samsung?

Oh, I'm sure they didn't need my help.

Posted by: jarod_lavay

Just wait until RIM sues Disney for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies because Captain Jack's ship is named the Black Pearl. Disney in infringing on not only RIM's obvious claim to all things starting with Black but also the Pearl.

Posted by: Arden

thats just ridiculous, i hope they lose.

Posted by: FallN

RIM is crazy. Plain and simple. They're just helping to further give the Blackjack more press. Their lawsuit is frivolous and baseless. It'll get thrown out any day now.

They think they've got the market cornered on the name "Black". I think the decendants of Blackbeard should sue the pants off of RIM for infringing on his name since he had "Black" long before RIM did.

Posted by: I have a phone

Black Sabbath should sue the Canucks

Posted by: mikegold

I heard Smuckers is suing RIM. Seems that people are buying wireless devices and attempting to spread them on toast.

Posted by: jarod_lavay

Quote:

Originally Posted by I have a phone

Black Sabbath should sue the Canucks

And when Sabbath wins Ozzy will bite off Mike Lazaridis' head

Posted by: botsdot

So if we get hooked on this thing is it a crackjack?

Posted by: cozz36

Quote:

Originally Posted by jarod_lavay

And when Sabbath wins Ozzy will bite off Mike Lazaridis' head

That's just too funny. Just think, young kids think Ozzy is just the guy from the TV show.

Posted by: andrsnsm

Quote:

Originally Posted by jarod_lavay

Just wait until RIM sues Disney for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies because Captain Jack's ship is named the Black Pearl. Disney in infringing on not only RIM's obvious claim to all things starting with Black but also the Pearl.

Disney should be going after RIM since the Blackberry Pearl is an obvious attempt to leverage the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Where do you think RIM got the name Pearl to begin with? What about the Pearl suggest something like a pearl?

Posted by: Michael95GT

Quote:

People laugh but you'd be surprised how non-tech savvy folks could easily confuse Blackjack and Blackberry.

If people can't tell/know the difference between the two. They have no business owning either. Honestly how many people go in and pay $200.00+ for a phone just to talk on.

I'm sure there are a few but not enough to effect their sales significantly.

Posted by: ant architect

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrsnsm

Uhm. The trackball in the middle of the device.

As for legitimacy, I think it makes sense since a lot of customers (even customers that are "in the know" with wireless) are confusing BlackJack to be a BlackBerry. Your examples are all saying "What if BlackBerry sues Black* (something not related to wireless)", but let's be real here, BlackBerry is a data device/smartphone, and BlackJack is a data device/smartphone. They are competing devices with very similar names. It would be different if RIM was suing another company for something like this if they weren't making a smartphone.

And as for the dude who said that they aren't going to buy a BlackBerry because of how many lawsuits RIM has, this is one that RIM has started. They were sued by NTP before over patent infringement, which is something I'm sure they'd rather not have had happen. If you look at other manufacturers, they deal with lawsuits constantly.

Posted by: Mr. Bond

Quote:

Originally Posted by botsdot

So if we get hooked on this thing is it a crackjack?

Ha ha. I was going to chime in and say that a fruit company should sue RIM for using the blackberry name. Clearly, the name similarities give customers emotional stress.

Posted by: Cowboyshootist

I am going to sue RIM because every time I go to the music store to buy Chuck Berry records I wind up buying a Blackberry device.

Maybe Samsung could just call the device a BJ because no one will confuse a BJ with a RIM job.

Posted by: briareus

Quote:

Originally Posted by TriAxis

I am so sick of RIM. This is like their 4th lawsuit in 2 years. God I hope they lose this case. I will never ever buy a Blackberry because of these practices.

You're not going to be left with much to buy if you make all your purchasing decisions like this...

Posted by: flyerhawk

While I certainly know the difference between the two when I first heard the name I thought it was a Blackberry variant.

I think RIM has more than a decent chance of winning this one.

Posted by: jarod_lavay

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cowboyshootist

I am going to sue RIM because every time I go to the music store to buy Chuck Berry records I wind up buying a Blackberry device.

Maybe Samsung could just call the device a BJ because no one will confuse a BJ with a RIM job.

in the words of the immortal Ed McMahon, "Hi-yooo"

Posted by: Cowboyshootist

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyerhawk

While I certainly know the difference between the two when I first heard the name I thought it was a Blackberry variant.

I think RIM has more than a decent chance of winning this one.

My pathetic attempts at humor aside...

I find it interesting that RIM decides to bring the suit after the BlackJack hits the market. It's not like we haven't known for months that this product was coming out. I am pretty sure that the BlackJack name was known prior to release.

Also, where do you draw the line? Any phone with the word Black in the name? I think customers are a lot smarter than RIM gives them credit for.

Posted by: kstab

I think Samsung should have named it a "Blackjerry" if they were going to end up getting sued anyway.