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BASIS International takes legal action against RIM over BBX trademark [Updated: Statement from RIM]

By Bla1ze on 19 Oct 2011 09:53 pm
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BASIS
*UPDATE* RIM STATEMENT - RIM has not yet received a copy of the legal complaint described in Basis International’s press release, but we do not believe the marks are confusing, particularly since our respective companies are in different lines of business.

Looks like RIM either forgot to check the current trademarks or just simply ignored the fact that BBX -- the new name for their upcoming OS for tablets and phones -- was already a registered trademark of a company called Basis International. Shortly after hearing the announcement, lawyers for BASIS filed legal actions against Research In Motion.

"BASIS Chairman and CEO, Nico Spence, said, “We have thousands of product licenses installed worldwide with the ‘BBX’ prefix that run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and other proprietary UNIX OSs from IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and SUN, with mobile clients running Apple iOS, Google Android, and Windows Mobile. We are fielding numerous customer inquiries voicing their confusion about the RIM announcement.”

Not exactly the first time such a case has arisen. Apple ran into issues with Cisco back when the iPhone was announced and settled up eventually. What it really breaks down to for the most part is just some rich people exchanging money for the right to go ahead and use a name.

Oddly enough, the two companies are related as noted by BASIS Chairman and CEO, Nico Spence stating “Ironically, BASIS’ BBx may aid RIM in its quest to grab a share of the application market for mobile devices in that any application created with BASIS’ BBx for the Android or iOS mobile devices will also run on BlackBerry products.” 

Source: Business Wire; via: CrackBerry Forums

Topics: Research In Motion BBX Basis News & Rumors

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44 comments

tekware

I hate to say I told you so...

Hwycop

It could be worse if they went with BBQ, think of all those lawsuits.

ekafara

I'm waiting for the media to blow this out of proportion.

PadreTremtU

Yes,unfortunately.

"All is for the best in the best of possible worlds." ... Love Playbook.... and Storm2 (sorry). Getting a 9860 ... or will wait for QNX?

nls

I'm in the same situation.
I think that in the meantime I will go for a curve touch 9380, cheaper device

semperfi45

I'm with you on this one...

jrmtl

I smell Mike L. calling whomever at Basis and cutting a cheque soon...

Hwycop

Or maybe offering them $200 in free apps !

sk8er_tor

Just call it QNX!

tekware

You know, that's exactly what I thought when they announced it - I thought it was called QNX?

blackmoe

I think BBX is a stupid name anyway. Besides, why are they concentrating on fluff and buff like a name change instead of bringing something real to the table in terms of hardware and applications.

zoban

RIM-OS

lol..

Mike L. will be fine he got himself a RIM-Job..

adjdudley21

im pretty sure they new this was coming.. and im pretty sure they have a plan to deal with it... and itll probably end with RIM buying them too just like all other 15companies theyve bought this past year lol

TomCanuck

Ffs... Why am I not surprised? RIM always dissapoints after an uplifting and possitive announcement. .. BlackBerry World brought wonderous news... That ended in dissapointment because of false promises. DevCon brought great news for the most part, and now this. RIM just didn't waste 6 months of our time this time round. Got the dissapointment out ASAP, if only they could deliver Email on the PlayBook that fast... Idiots

TurboProp

I've been a BB user for 10+ years.... And I'm still not planning on switching. But I have to agree with this post, RIM does need to get their act together and deliver... or they will end up like Palm.... And nobody is going to be happy about that

Thecubicle

How about Black X? Or Qberry? Or QNB? Or just pay those guys to back off hahaha. Let's get this new train goin! RIMPIRE!

axllebeer

Hot-damn will this kind of stuff ever end for RIM?! I would hope that they had already checked on this and there is some "research in motion" about what they were planing on doing about it. haha Hopefully they will take care of this quickly and keep moving foreward...

Sent from my flippin' CrackBerry Style

Jonathank

MrKsBerry@Blogspot.com
How bout they pay the greedy people over there and use BBX

doubleaa25

First, this is going to be exaggerated by all news peoples

Then i guess they are gonna take a long time to solve the issue, like Apple and Cisco.

Erievon

Why this "oh another disapointment for RIM" stuff. Seriously whats the big flippin deal? One of two things will happen, they will pay royalties in the name, or two GASP, they call it something else. Big woop. Whats in a name...i dont give a smurf what they call it.

BBPandy

Also:
BBX‎ = BankAtlantic Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE)

They probably knew about this B4 they descided on the name. Most likely it will end up in a multi-year lawsuit that will be quietly settled.

feldmen01

It's only a legal issue if both companies wanting to use the same name are in a comparable industry with comparable products. A name on the stock market for a financial services holding company does not fit in that category, they would have no grounds to sue as it does not create confusion for consumers. People will know when they're using a BBX blackberry, not a financial service.

I can see why BASIS is suing though... users could get confused since they can both run on a blackberry environment.

KQ9

Is it me or Basis is hinting at a collaboration and to integrate their service with Blackberry? lol

Lumute

Lol, what a joke!

How lucky those guys are, they got a lot more from DEVCON than a Playbook with a half backed 2.0 OS... lol... I guess that is why they are still naming it PlayBook OS... what a way to make money overnight...

CrackBerryTorch9800

Buy the company. They're making apps for andriod and iphone, well buy them and charge double on those systems. If they are profitable and can help RIM's bottom line then i say do it. Cash is no good sitting around if it can be used properly to make more of it.

Tariq.H

take it easy guys, this stuff happens to everyone

ba_hamilton

The only people that are going to come out of this sunny side up are the lawyers. Two fairly large companies, companies with some cash in the bank. Lawyers haggle over this for months driving up legal costs. Just pay up now and cut out the middle man (lawyers).

WillieLee

Technically, they have BBx licensed along with BBj.

bladerunner6821

i agree with previous posts. if the "Ironic" situation is something they can eventually work on together, (BASIS & RIM) i don't see why They can't just come to some sort of agreement/solution to where both parties are satisfied and this doesn't turn into yet another exaggerated media frenzy. RIMPIRE Strikes Back!

mssca

In near future when I write essays in first person, I may have to reference "I" with a superscript and reference that as; "I" is a registered trade mark of Apple Inc.

Oh boy... I sure don't want to be in school writing lab reports and essays in year 2020 for sure. Who knows, I may have to cite references for each and every single world! Can I make a copyright clam for "the", "a", "an" and so on?

The copyright act becoming a joke!

Ainen

There's nothing that stops multiple registrations of the same mark . In fact, this company isn't the owner of the only "BBX" trademark listed on the USPTO database. In fact, their registered word mark design is "BBx".

RIM I feel is designating this as a platform and not a product so I'd watch and see what happens.

CrackBerryHarry

Crush them like a bug, Mike! Learn to control the news cycle!

Abrante

give them a few dollars and finalize the deal by sending them to the "thank you gift" section on AppWorld...

CDM76

Maybe RIM should just buy out Basis International ......

Superfly_FR

While I know almost every word or acronym is probably somewhere patented, I can't believe they didn't even looked @ the domains names. I know a barter service that is probably not going to sue RIM ... and would better consider a huge enhancement of its bandwidth !

jstirtzinger

People relax...I am someone who has experience with trademarks and OF COURSE RIM completed a search of existing marks....a law clerk in first year would do that for crying out loud.

You then make an informed decision if you find something similar as to whether you proceed or not...
1. Is the mark in the same industry
2. Is the mark similar in appearance
3. Has the mark been used commercially
4. In which countries is the mark registered.

RIM obviously decided it was worth it to them to proceed.

nmlynx

It looks like BASIS would be able to prove those 4 items:

http://www.trademarkia.com/bbx-78639049.html

Jimberry Storm

Maybe the lowercase (x) will be the deal braeker. BBx vs BBX

olivercub

It is, the stylised way to write it, can be what is actually trademark.