BlackBerryesque Typo iPhone case hit with sales ban
A judge grants a preliminary injunction against sales of the case, which is backed by TV personality Ryan Seacrest, saying BlackBerry has established a "likelihood" of patent infringement.
BlackBerry has squashed Ryan Seacrest's BlackBerryesque Typo iPhone case, at least for the time being.
A US district judge in San Francisco granted this week a preliminary injunction -- i.e., a temporary sales ban -- against the $99 Typo, which grafts a physical keyboard onto an iPhone.
BlackBerry is suing Typo, saying the iPhone case's beveled-key keyboard is "a blatant infringement against BlackBerry's iconic keyboard."
Reuters reports that US District Judge William Orrick said BlackBerry had established a "likelihood" of infringement and that Typo hadn't sufficiently challenged the relevant patents.
"BlackBerry is pleased that its motion for a preliminary injunction against Typo Products LLC was granted. This ruling will help prevent further injury to BlackBerry from Typo's blatant theft of our patented keyboard technology," a spokeswoman for BlackBerry told the news agency in an email.
Typo, for irs part, said in a statement that it "will continue to make and sell innovative products that busy people can't live without."
Typo was founded by Chief Executive Laurence Hallier and TV personality Ryan Seacrest. The device itself was invented by Chief Technology Officer and designer Ryan Hyde.
You can read more about the lawsuit here. And CNET Reviews editor Jessica Dolcourt got to play with a Typo at CES 2014. She records her impressions here .
