BlackBerry sues Twitter for stealing its ideas

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Another year, another lawsuit

Image credit: BlackBerry

It was only a year ago that former phone manufacturer BlackBerry sued Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp over messaging patents. Within months, Facebook countersued BlackBerry for similar reasons.

Those two cases are still in litigation, but BlackBerry has taken the fight to new levels, this time by filing a patent infringement lawsuit against Twitter.

According to the complaint filed, BlackBerry claims Twitter has infringed on six of its patents covering notifications and mobile advertising.

Same-same but different

While BlackBerry sued Facebook for things like tagging people in photos, combining mobile gaming and messaging, use of cryptographic techniques for security, and status updates designed to optimize battery life, the former phone maker claims Twitter “created mobile messaging applications that co-opt BlackBerry’s innovations, using a number of the innovative user interface and functionality enhancing features that made BlackBerry’s products such a critical and commercial success in the first place”.

As per the 98-page complaint, available to read on Crackberry (the news site and forum for BlackBerry users), the company states that Twitter’s use of “BlackBerry’s mobile messaging innovations” has “resulted in a substantial and undeserved windfall”. 

After trying to resolve the matter out of court, BlackBerry is now seeking “adequate compensation” for the use of its intellectual property.

[Via TechCrunch]

Sharmishta Sarkar
Sharmishta Sarkar
Managing Editor (APAC)

While she's happiest with a camera in her hand, Sharmishta's main priority is being TechRadar's APAC Managing Editor, looking after the day-to-day functioning of the Australian, New Zealand and Singapore editions of the site, steering everything from news and reviews to ecommerce content like deals and coupon codes. While she loves reviewing cameras and lenses when she can, she's also an avid reader and has become quite the expert on ereaders and E Ink writing tablets, having appeared on Singaporean radio to talk about these underrated devices. Other than her duties at TechRadar, she's also the Managing Editor of the Australian edition of Digital Camera World, and writes for Tom's Guide and T3.