BlackBerry is suing Facebook for copying its messaging system
BlackBerry alleges Facebook's empire of social media apps copied its mobile messaging tech – a feisty war of words has ensued
HERE'S a blast from the past: Blackberry, the former reigning champ of secure smartphones, is taking Facebook to court.
It claims that Facebook's empire of apps – including Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram – copied its instant messaging tech.
As part of its patent infringement lawsuit, BlackBerry is seeking an unspecified amount of financial compensation from the social media behemoth.
“We have a strong claim that Facebook has infringed on our intellectual property, and after several years of dialogue, we also have an obligation to our shareholders to pursue appropriate legal remedies,” BlackBerry spokeswoman Sarah McKinney said in a statement.
Facebook has fired back in a responding statement, in which it basically calls BlackBerry a has-been that's struggling to stay relevant (ouch).
“Blackberry’s suit sadly reflects the current state of its messaging business," reads the catty statement, attributed to Paul Grewal, Facebook's deputy general counsel.
"Having abandoned its efforts to innovate, Blackberry is now looking to tax the innovation of others. We intend to fight.”
Looks like we have a full-blown tech industry scrap on our hands.
Among the features that BlackBerry claims Facebook pinched from it are the use of an unread message icon, showing multiple messages in an inbox, selecting photo tags, and not showing timestamps next to every message in a conversation.
Arriving on the scene in 1984, BlackBerry grew to become a leading smartphone-maker courtesy of its secure BBOS mobile operating software.
Known for building devices with physical keyboards, BlackBerry was ultimately dwarfed by Apple's iPhone and handsets carrying Google's Android.
After years of declining sales, it licensed the BlackBerry smartphone brand to Chinese phone manufacturer TCL in 2016, and BBM to Indonesian telecom company Emtek.
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Now, the firm plans to revive its fortunes by getting into – but, that won't be cheap.
So, in order to raise some much-needed cash, BlackBerry is wielding patent infringement lawsuits against some of the biggest names in tech.
Last year, it nabbed $940 million (£677 million) from mobile chip-maker Qualcomm as part of a dispute over royalty payments.
It also sued Nokia, claiming that Nokia's telecom equipment infringed its intellectual property.
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