BlackBerry versus BlackJack: RIM sues Samsung for trademark infringement
By Cyrus Farivar 
posted Dec 10th 2006 3:01PM
posted Dec 10th 2006 3:01PM
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Conversely, do you honestly believe Samsung decided on the "Blackjack" name independently or were they trying to allude to, hang onto the coattails of, and (in part) dilute the Blackberry brand?
as stupid as it seems RIM has to get back the money it lost to NTP somehow.
Given the choice between the two, I'd choose the Black Jack. I mean, BlackBerry. Wait, what the hell do I mean? I'm so confused! Oh why do they have to both use the word Black?!
Who cares...I'll keep my Q.
I swear I've heard on the podcast before of engadget going after people for trademark stuff. Wasn't the excuse "protect it or lose it"? Granted there's a line somewhere, but's hard to criticize just because you draw the line in a different place.
I love the new blackberry I just bought. But can someone clear up why it says Samsung under the screen. I thought it was a product of RIM. Oh well, its shiny....:)
nice, nice.. very nice
If I knew you in person I'd so give you a cookie :P.
We have never gone after anyone for infringing on our trademark. Get your facts straight!
well then, i certainly hope you enjoy my new gadget news site called ongadget.com!
Rediculous.
This would be like Apple suing anybody who had the letter "i" before their product name.
Money Hungry anyone?
Wait. Apple DOES do that.
Ooooh, right, it's a joke, I get it.
when I read the truncated heading for this in my RSS feed:
"Blackberry versus BlackJack: RIM s"
I thought that RIM must have relased a new toy and this would be a feature comparison.
so, yes. the name is confusing.
and i am SURE that was intentional.
Somehow I think that if "pod" can represent the brand identity for many of Apple's products, then is it ludicrous to assume that "black" could represent the identity of RIM's big product line? Apple's been able to enforce it, why not RIM?
Oh crap, instead of buying a blackberry, I bought a Black-ipod, damn....
It must have been the diggnation podcast, I stand corrected and apologize...
Lol yeah, you had the perfect opportunity too with the "engadget store" in malaysia.
No I suppose not, since I guess "cease and desist" letters aren't the same thing as enforcing trademarks?
A few examples:
Profit Pod - http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=3482
Podcast Ready - http://blog.wired.com/music/2006/09/apple_hits_podc.html?entry_id=1561308
Tight Pod - http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=3489
You would actually be surprised how stupid some people are. A person can easily have heard how great the Blackberry was from a friend then went to the store to buy one and saw the Blackjack and purchased that instead, either thinking there was no difference between them or thinking they misheard. Either way it was an intentional act of Samsung to have its product name resemble that of the Blackberry. There are an infinite number of other names they could have chosen but instead they picked a name that resembled the name of their closest competitor for this product. They deserve to get sued.
See, now people might read this and think "Well, people aren't that ignorant." they are, why I was at Best Buy a few weeks ago, scoffing at the prices as always, when I heard a sales lady telling a young group of people that there's virtually no difference between an iPod and a Samsung player(Not sure which it was), aside from the screen.
This isn't so much the Consumer, because the Consumer is going to be mostly sure of what they want from word of mouth. The thing is, it's going to be the sales people they ask in the stores, who are at least equally ignorant to the differences and just want to move the product, that will get them to buy it instead, explaining how they aren't all that "different", or so that's how I see it.
I really doubt that this suit will be successful, simply for the reason that blackjack is pretty well recognized, as a word, as having nothing to do with the blackberry. I am not going to say that there was absolutely no recognition of the similarity to "Blackberry", but the meaning on "Blackjack" in English is distinct enough from Blackberry, that they will prevail in the end.
When I saw the end of this article headline, I assumed Moto was suing Samsung for the very real similarities between the Blackjack and the Q. The suit would at least have some merit.
This is ridiculous they are two separate products. BlackBerry is the name of the OS (software), while BlackJack is the name of the phone.
Needless to say, Cingular must find this thing pretty good for publicity of their two newest smartphones
Gads, more lawyers. They will be consigned to their own special level of Hell.
I heard RIM is suing Dole next for selling blackberries at the supermarket. There are also rumors that they're gonna sue them for selling blueberries, strawberries, boysenberries and anything else that has the berry name. No word yet, however, if they're gonna sue the Black Eyed Peas.
Someone should considering their music sucks.
somebody should tell RIM that the word "blackjack" existed before their little fruity device came to the market...
Apparently you'll get sued every time you want to go play a casino game. Hmmmm.
In the side-by-side I would have to say Samsung has them beat.
The two aren`t related at all. A blackberry you eat...a blackjack is used to beat someone...RIM just got flogged !
As much as I hate 'copyright infringement' lawsuits, I think this is pretty valid... I mean, Blackberry, Blackjack... two syllable words starting with Black, and the products are in the EXACT SAME MARKET. This isn't like apple suing people for products named i[name goes here] or [stuff goes here]pod that have absolutely nothing to do with playing MP3s, this is similar products with similar names. I mean come on Samsung, that's pretty sleazy.
"Blackberry" has three syllables. Anyway...naming your product based on the market leader's format is a cheap tactic but its one that companies have been doing for years. Its a smart move either way by Samsung, because even if they're forced to change product names, they've managed to generate extra column inches for yet another dull-looking smartphone on the market.
Is really Samsung who's named his product that way? I've always thought that Cingular was responsible for the name of their devices like Cingular 8125(HTC Wizard) Blackjack(Samsung SGH-i607), Sync(Samsung SGH-A707)........Weird....
I must admit, when I first saw a commercial for the BlackJack, I caught myself wondering if it was a new BlackBerry phone or not. It's clearly designed and named to make people wonder that.
Of course, I only watch the cell phone market from afar and watch for neat things just to forget them later.
Clearly none of you know squat about trademark law.
RIM's case is pretty much rock solid. Naming their smartphone device "BlackJack" was a gutsy, risky move on Samsung's part. RIM didn't blink. So sad for Samsung. But not too sad, they'll settle.
at least samsung is a big enough compnay to totally crush them and put them where they belong. hopefully.
Which one of these black devices should I get? I want one... just don't know which is better.
It's so silly ... i wish i wouldn't have bought a Blackberry ... it's keyboard is sweet but it's PDA functions are too difficult to access and use. It takes email about 20 mins to get to my phone too ... "push email" ... pushin really slow :)
Samsung has a nice product. Blackberry (RIM) like Apple is being petty.
Well, people could see the BlackJack and think it's an upgrade to the BlackBerry, right? I sure would: BlackJack sounds a lot cooler :D
Here's the three-horse race I'm watching...
1. An Apple phone that runs on Sprint
2. A Samsung Blackjack that runs on Sprint
3. A Q that runs on Sprint (on it's way) that has fixed some of the problems that exist on other carriers' version of the Q.
I wouldn't be surprised if RIM won this lawsuit. Samsung's product name is confusingly similar (to non-blog-reading consumers), and competes directly with their product. It is trademark infringement.
"Infringement may occur when one party, the "infringer", uses a trademark which is identical or confusingly similar to a registered trademark owned by another party, in relation to products or services which are identical or similar to the products or services which the registration covers. An owner of a registered trademark may commence legal proceedings against a party which infringes its registration." -Wikipedia
It really isn't ridiculous. And using comparisons to Apple and the letter "i" at the beginning of the name isn't very relevant. Unless a competitor of Apple uses the "i" in a product name to confuse consumers. Such as an iBox which plays MP3s...That's confusion, and would merit a lawsuit.
How about "chocolate Jack" ?
;)
ok, when i saw the article name and read the article, it seriously took me until near the end of the article to even realize both these products had the same first word. maybe i just am really tired (and i am) but why are these companies filling our courts with so many frivolous lawsuits?!?! it's really unbelievable what people will sue for.
"This would be like Apple suing anybody who had the letter "i" before their product name."
especially if the second letter was capitalized and the whole thing was in Apple's standard font.. oh yeah... that would be bs...
are you fo-serial, i'll check it out.
Damn. You lied to me. I booked marked it and everything. Wahoo scott, I hereby ban you from engadget.
fyi, y'all might want to consider the general multipart test used in trademark infringement suits:
1. Similarity of the conflicting marks;
2. Relatedness or proximity of the two companies;
3. Strength of the senior users mark;
4. Marketing channels used;
5. Degree of care likely to be used by purchasers in selecting the goods;
6. The "second comers" intent in selecting its mark;
7. Evidence of actual confusion;
8. Likelihood of expansion in product lines
now, can any of you really say that this suit is meritless, or that you wouldn't do the same if you were rim?
"This is ridiculous they are two separate products. BlackBerry is the name of the OS (software), while BlackJack is the name of the phone."
Are you retarded?
From RIM's website: Used by thousands of organizations around the world, the BlackBerry device is a revolutionary communication tool that allows mobile professionals to send and receive email wherever they go.
BLACKBERRY DEVICE... It's not the OS.
I have one of these, so I thought I'd add a few relevant facts from the box:
Model #: SGH-I605
Description: Samsung BlackJack(tm)
This tells us two things-- Samsung has applied for a trademark for the product name BlackJack for a cellular device and that application has been accepted for consideration, with the presumption that a registered trademark will be granted. It may not be, hence the (tm) instead of the (r). It also tells us that they could market it and sell it as the I605 very easily, just by changing the box and the advertisements, if need be.
My take, a shrewd move on their part. They applied for the trademark and if granted, sorry RIM. If not, they change the box and ads. In the meantime, because of the press, everyone will talk about the new Blackberry-like phone from Samsung...
Incidentally, I like this phone better than the 8700c and the Pearl at the moment. But that's neither here nor there.
The way I see it, RIM forfeited a fair amount of trademark claims by leading the naming of their device of an adjective that could be applied to nearly half of all the phones out there. I mean, we're talking about "black." No one should be able to own such a common word for an entire space. Has anyone else ever used the adjective "black" to describe their product before?
Umm, I don't think you can forfeit trademarks just because you have a common word in your trademark. Otherwise a lot of trademarks out there would be forfeited. If you claim it first, it's yours. Hello, Windows anybody? Considering that nobody has come up with the Black* product name for a competing mobile/smart phone before this, I'd say it's not all THAT common a term to be used, and Samsung is totally jumping on RIM's coattails with their Blackjack product name. Just because the term existed before doesn't mean squat. It didn't exist before in context of a smartphone, so RIM really does seem to have a case here.
May as well sue Sony because there Playstation 3 is black...and the XBOX is black, so they are going to be sued soon...then the whole african american race will be sued for being black...let's see, who else could they sue?
Jon Graft, can you be any more stupid? RIM is not sueing because of the colour black, it's sueing because of the name that can confuse people on brand names and yes, people do get confused. At least RIM is sueing a company from the same industry. Monster Cable has sued totally unrelated companies over the word "monster".
Hmm actually I think this is a pretty smart move from RIM and at the same time, not a smart move.
I'll explain:
Look at all these flurry of comments heating up between RIM and Samsung.
Theres quite a valid argument here, because well, all the comments supporting RIM up there will tell you. Meanwhile, RIM's getting lots and lots of press from this. NTP vs. RIM? At that time when it started (several several years ago - before it heated up), not that many people have even heard of RIM. It was mostly the business sector where BlackBerry reigned supreme. Yet, from that law suit, RIM got SO MUCH attention from the press, cuz hell it was a big money spending thing from a stupid patent holding firm. As you can see right now, with RIM releasing devices like the Pearl, they want to dig into the consumer's market. They want to provide something that normal people will love using, that looks cool, and can do everything they need quickly.
With RIM having this law suit, it gives a PERFECT chance to put their name out there in the press, and have people read about it, and talk about it. Perfect chance to show why the name "BlackBerry" has so much merit to it.
On the other hand, another point to this argument is that Samsung had previous QWERTY devices, AND SureType devices. And since they didn't have access to Push Email, they used BlackBerry Connect. Perfect chance to take some licensing credit, and to get their name out there again! With this law suit, i'm not so sure their partnership holds effect anymore. Not so sure they'd be making that SureType device - though I'm not sure that was a hot device in the market anyway, but still.
true story. soo ten minutes after I read this article someone walks into my cingular store asking for the new blackberry. i show him the pearl and he says thats not what he saw in the commercial. i finally realize that he wants the blackjack. I thought the lawsuit was a bunch of bs but blackberry does have a valid point, naming a pda phone with the word black in the front does trick non-informed consumers.
one more thing...i always thought the black jack was named so because cingular's emblem is a "jack" and the phone itself is black.
Wow! That picture shows the BlackJack with full battery life!! Where can I get one like that!?!
If you have a BlackJack, you know what I'm talking about.
A few people have asked me have I seen the new "blackberry blackjack" phone on Cingular... I had to explain that the blackjack is not a blackberry, its a smart phone made by Samsung. Some people just don't have a clue... I agree with RIMs claims.
Nothing like Blackberry...Immensely useful!!!
wow is the word!!!
They should just call it "Jack" and keep in the tradition of single syllable product names like "Zune".
why doesn't cingular go in and tell RIM to stop with the lawsuits or it'll drop its product from its offering. Cingular and the customers are being hurt in the end.
"why doesn't cingular go in and tell RIM to stop with the lawsuits or it'll drop its product from its offering. Cingular and the customers are being hurt in the end."
Because Cingular threatening to stop selling blackberries = Cingular threatening to shoot itself in the foot.
I thought it was always RIM's tactic to sue its competitors. Didn't RIM sue Palm and Good for patent infringement? It was backfired when NTP sued RIM.
Until today, I did not really think Samsung's BlackJack was a competition to BlackBerry. Perhaps I should take a closer look of the product if RIM is worrying about it.
I hope no one will pick up the BlackJack and say "Hey, look at this new BlackBerry device called 'Samsung'". I guess anything can happen....
First, do some research folks. While many of we engadget regulars are well informed on what smartphone is what, the unwashed masses do NOT. I work for an agent of Cingular and many customers have made this mistake. People can't even discern what company their phone service is currently with much less manufacturer or model number. Hell some can't even turn the damned things on.
Cingular being the number one purveyor of Blackberrys they are not going to remove them from their offering. If they were to tell someone to change something it would be Samsung to just change the name.
And finally, they aren't going to go after the PS3 or the Black iPod because black is the color, not the product name nor are they in direct competition in the smartphone market.
Also to add to my original comment, the actual BlackJack design copies the blackberry very closely. It has the scroll wheel on the right side which can be pushed in in order to open items. Oh and lets not forget the back key thats right below the scroll wheel, yep really original. This device was made specifically to target stupid people who dont know enough about phones except that Blackberries are good and if it starts with Black it must be associated with RIM.
You guys do know that samsung is using there tradmarks WITH there permission. The scroll wheel and other features are courtesy of RIM
Samsung just needs to add other *Jacks like a RedJack, BlueJack, PurpleJack, etc.
black... berry... black... jack...
i'm so confoosed.
Could someone, who cannot tell between a Blackberry and a Blackjack, use a smartphone at all?
The Globe and Mail ran a story at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061213.RRIM13/TPStory/
about a confused junior employee at www.americancell.com who put a picture of the Samsung BlackJack on their Cingular BlackJack Pearl page.
They still have a link to their old BlackBerry Pearl page with the Samsung BlackJack picture at: http://www.americancell.com/q_Blackberry-Pearl.htm
""""""Why not name it "DARK VADER" with robotic tones and laser connectivity....
I don't think it's that much of an issue. If Apple would come out with a MacBerry, or some vendors would refer to Berries, being smartphones; then we have another issue.
Now every smartphone maker can not use the non-patented word "black" anymore?
I have had customers come in many times looking for the Raspberry. If someone can call it another type of food, I don't see why they couldn't confuse it with a different type of... weapon? Oh well, my point is people are stupid. It's too much work for them to learn what they are talking about. Unfortunately, most sales employees are the same way. RIM is just trying to protect their name, as annoying as it is.
DUH!!!!!!! You can not trademark a word that is a color, if RIM was so Fing smart and actually gave a shit, they could have locked up the term Blackjack for PDA's but they didnt and cingular wins, Besides, the Black Jack is much better than the BlackBerrys, if anyone is taking a risk it is samsung - someone might want the Blackjank and inadvertnantly buy the blackberry.
I understand that the law firm representing RIM in this case is collecting stories from people who experienced or know about any type of confusion between BlackJack and BlackBerry. Anyone with examples or other information can email jg10005@gmail.com.
well vonage sued att for Callvantage cause people were confused and calling them when they were trying to get att. but they lost that suit.
I currently reside within Samsungs product development for mobile devices, and it is indeed factual that Samsung named the Blackjack with the intention of lowering the standard represented by the name "Blackberry" and reducing it to Motorola's powerful, yet impermanent level. We did expect an upheaval brought upon by Blackberry and it wouldn’t be feasible for them to get anything out of this suit.
Hi Alex
That's an interesting commment about Samsung. Is there any chance you could talk to me about it further?
If you're happy to talk to me, email me at km1445@gmail.com
Thanks
Following iPod and Blackberry, Will Smith announced that after production of iRobot, he trademarked iBlack.
Now Will Smith's being sued by both iPod and Blackberry so he can't use the li'l i and will have to visit Michael Jackson's doctor for bleaching.