Sales of the iPhone-and-BlackBerry keyboard device hack will be temporarily banned until a lawsuit filed by BlackBerry has been resolved, according to a court order. A California federal judge on Friday issued the injunction and claimed in the court order that the smartphone company was able to establish a possibility that the flagship product of the startup co-founded by "American Idol" television host might have infringed BlackBerry's patents. CNN said that Typo has yet to present a substantial rebuttal to the court court.
In a statement issued on Monday, The Canadian mobile phone maker said, "This ruling will help prevent further injury to BlackBerry from Typo's blatant theft of our patented keyboard technology. While we are flattered by the desire to graft our keyboard onto other smartphones, we will not tolerate the deliberate use of our iconic design without proper permission."
Typo, which is a tactile keyboard that BlackBerry has claimed to be similar to its iconic keyboard, has been sold for $99 since December of last year, CNN said. Earlier, the company has already issued a statement rejecting BlackBerry's patent infringement claims.
The court battle against the startup is viewed somewhat a win for the beleaguered smartphone maker. After facing huge losses in terms of market share from Apple's iPhone and smartphone bigwigs like Samsung operating on Google's Android software, the Ontario-based company declared that it has shifted its focus on serving business customers and developing mobile software aimed to be run on competitors' phones.
Just last month, BlackBerry debuted Q20, the company's new smartphone with a touchscreen and has brought back the physical keyboard, trackpad, and menu buttons similar to the smartphone maker's old phones, CNN said. It also seemed that going back to the basics was the order of the moment for BlackBerry, as it has been reported that the company will be producing BlackBerry Bold phones featuring its classic keyboard design.
CNN added that new chief executive officer John Chen expressed hope that the new strategies could help the company recoup back its losses.
