And by "make nice" we mean they probably exchanged large amounts of money behind closed doors to keep this lawsuit from getting out of hand.
RIM's lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for Central California in December, alleges that not only does
Samsung's BlackJack phone cause consumer confusion, but the very fact that Samsung called the phone
i600 in Europe proves that it was specifically targeting the US-centric BlackBerry types. RIM, in a statement Wednesday said that the settlement includes "immediate provisions for the protection of RIM's valuable trademarks," and that it "does include limitations on use of the Blackjack trademark, withdrawal of the trademark application for Blackjack, Cingular's retention of common law rights in the Blackjack trademark, and certain reasonable measures to avoid confusion in the marketplace." So it sounds like Samsung won't be getting much more mileage out of this naming convention, though the deliberate "Blackjack" misspelling by RIM -- with that lowercase "j" -- has to grate on Sammy just a little bit, unless of course that was part of the deal. So, can we all just get along now?
[Thanks, Marty H]
posted February 8th 2007 11:45AM
Okay, maybe I'm just stupid -- but I own a Blackjack and have been a fanatic about it since LOOONG before it was released here, back when the test units were called the i600 etc. And i have never, not once, made the connection in my head between the names "Blackjack" and "BlackBerry." After reading this report, I guess maybe it was intentional, but, man, it just never entered my mind. It's a small, slim, black device and when I heard the name Blackjack I thought they were just trying to give it a cool name.
I guess they didn't take you into consideration, maybe they should reconsider?
This is getting ridiculous. I get that protecting your IP and trademark is important, but this was not an infringement, it was the naming of a similar device with a similar name.
Never mind that neither of those names were unheard of before the release of the product, being normal words of the english language and already existing expressions. I understand that RIM is pissed if Samsung did this on purpose, but will they now forbid any type of email getting mobile from using a name like Black*.
It's utterly ridiculous what the legal system is unleashing on this world, how thoroughly illogical claims can be made and won just because it makes sense legally.
I, for one, am appalled.
The naming of a similar device with a similar name is exactly what those laws are trying to stop.
If had been a completely different type of phone they probably would have gotten away with it with no complaint from RIM.
But the phone is very similar designed to infiltrate a similar market and almost the exact same name.
That's the definition of infringement, or at least the spirit.
Blackberry vs. Windows Mobile? Don't make me laugh.
Y really tried hard to fall in love with WM's vast availability of 3rd party software, used both the Treo 750 and HTC TTyN - really uptodate devices.
But after half a dozen of daily reboots and a system crash produced by an incoming call (unrecoverable...) I promised not to touch again any Bill Gates stuff on a mission critical environment such as a phone.
This made me discover out why Blackberry and Nokia (Symbian) smartphones do not have that infamous hole where you find the WM devices' reset button. THEY DON'T NEED IT!! They never really crash or at least not as bad as not being able to solve it by turning off/on the phone.
NO BILL GATES STUFF ON MY PHONE, please
I've had a few people attempt to correct me when I say "Did you see that Blackjack commercial" (playing cards one). They say "It's Blackberry not BlackJack" or they say "don't you mean Blackberry".
I even heard someone on the Opie and Anthony show making fun of a caller that said he just bought a BlackJack and stated he loved it, thgn one of the boyz called him stupid because it's a Blackberry and not a BlackJack.
So the confusion comes with those talking about it and not really from someone attempting to buy or look at either.
How retarded can lawsuits get? BlackJack and BlackBerry only has one thing in common... they both have Black in the beginning. I've never confused BlackBerry and BlackJack ever since BlackJack came out. I think this is just a way BlackBerry wants to play ever since their HUGE lawsuit. Good Luck. I hope this lawsuit gets shot down.
This is just stupid anyway. BlackJack and BlackBerry are two completely different words. I mean, damn, one is a fruit and one is a card game/club/tree. I think it's ridiculous that RIM can essentially claim anything that starts with black* is protected by their trademark. That's just stupid.
Since Ferrari was making F430, can Ferrari sue Lexus for having a GS430?
I still love my blackberry, so i dont know why RIM was tirppin. BlackJack sucks