So... maybe some of the $100million advertising and marketing budget should be put towards paying lawyers that do their jobs?

Oh Lord........(say it so many times when reading RIM-related blunders like these that I ought to be in church)

so now, its time to come up with a new name for BBM? cause i honestly don't see RIM winning this.

Knowing that BBM is trademarked yet they still use it? First OS2, then BBX(10) and now this? Is RIM run by monkeys? I'm speechless really with RIM.

Heck, even I'll say it this time: Idiots!

why the issue after like. 3 years??

(shakes head)

This is either an example of absolute stupidity or absolute arrogance on the part of RIM management.

Can the above trolls and apple fanboys please turn around and shoot themselves in the face?

BBX=BB10
BBM=BB1000
Solved.

You gotta be kidding.

I'm sorry but there is such a thing as enfore your trademark or lose your claim. RIM has been using BBM for several years. And only now do these people come out of the woodwork when it seems fashionable to jump on the anti-RIM bandwagen.

If they were soooooo concerned about people confusing their association nobody has ever heard of with BlackBerry Messenger perhaps they should have thought of this years ago.

I guess the blackberry growers of America will be up next because perhaps fruit purchasers will be confused as to where they should buy their fruit, the grocery store or the local cellular store.

it seems for every small right they do, a big wrong comes and bites them :(

I'm looking at my Bold 9900 and it's called BlackBerry Messenger. I don't see BBM anywhere. Wasn't it the consumers that started calling it BBM? Nevertheless, all RIM has to do is go what is currently named on their devices, BLACKBERRY MESSENGER.

Isaac Kendall....i love your reply!!!

@Issac Kendall

"If they were soooooo concerned about people confusing their association nobody has ever heard of with BlackBerry Messenger perhaps they should have thought of this years ago.

I guess the blackberry growers of America will be up next because perhaps fruit purchasers will be confused as to where they should buy their fruit, the grocery store or the local cellular store."

I think this right here hits the nail on the head. RIM seems to be an easy target right now, so anyone who thinks they have a shot at winning a lawsuit is gonna go after them. Not to long ago the mighty RIM empire was strong and rich and growing... not an easy target. But now, with stocks and public opinion taking a nosedive (in North America at least) RIM seems to be dying a slow death... and a big target like that is going to attract a LOT of vultures

I bet I've said this 1000 times the past couple of years....how do the co-CEO's keep their job?

+1000......its always been BLACKBERRY MESSENGER to me

the 'other' BBM is fucked. no one gives two shits about them!

Just change it to BM....seems appropriate.

They going to sue all the musicans using BBM in their songs also???

Change it to BBIM, BlackBerry Instant Messaging!

It's BlackBerry Messenger, not BBM.

BBM was adopted by the media/consumers.

Case closed.

haha...fire the marketing, fire the CEOs, fire the programmers, and now fire the lawyers...

We're asking RIM to fire everyone in the company...

We should all just pretend Microsoft rebranded themselves as RIM and carry on.

They should rename it "Kik"....oh wait nevermind.

This is just ridiculous. Next they wont be able to label it BB Messenger or something because someone out there uses the term BB.
Bugger off BBM Canada, nobody cares about your name except you.

Does it ever end. Jim and Mike must be wanting to shoot themselves.

END 2011 damn you lol

"In 2001, BBM adopted a new name and became officially known as BBM Canada..."

No law against using a 3 letters out of a trademark, is there? Would CrackBerry.com file a lawsuit over me creating a brand called "Berry"?

The new name if needed should be "BIM" BlackBerry Instant Messenger. I claim that so RIM will now have to pay me to use it! Haha.

Maybe they could change the name to BB-Mess.

Typo.

According to Wiki, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBM_Canada BBM Canada didn't change their name (shorten) it to BBM until '01 which BBM (BlackBerry) already exsited and claimed the acronym for BlackBerry Messenger. Theoretically there's no case. And what the hell, what if my name was Billy Bob McShannon or something? Can I sue too? Rim took my initals! People are thirsty for money in down times!

@Isaac Kendall

Exactlly what I was just twittering someone. If I can remember my HS Law, it's called Adverse Possession. Squatter's rights, basically. If something belongs to you, and you ignore that someone else has it, that something becomes the other person's property after a period of time. The question is (which someonee raised already), why did BBM Canada wait so long to defend its' trademark? Trademarks have to be distinct as well. "BBM Canada" is different from "BBM". I think a court of law would take into account that "BBM" is associated with RIM in the public eye.

Just one day, I'd like to wake up and see good news reported about RIM. Seriously, is that hard. Oh well, if they are looking for a new name, I vote for WASF! Short for "We Are So F.....!"

This is hard to read, I do agree that they have no case though. There are plenty of other companies that use the same acronyms, and it's BBM Canada anyway.

its ok, RIM can call it "BB-eM" after they lose the case.

Check out BBM.ca under the about link...at the bottom see their logo circa 1999... Theyve probably gotten more hits today than in their entire history. I agree with @issackendall and would be curious about the lack of defense of their trademark and how that would apply in this case. Technically it is Blackberry Messenger so they drop BBM from any future marketing and move on. Or BBM Canada should strike up a licensing deal with RIM..

A quick lookup of RIM trademarks on their corporate site and immediately I notice that the tradmarks are in the United States and not in Canada. Also in their initial summary posted below, RIM indicates that its a trademark and not a REGISTERED trademark. Bla1ze, please correct that in your post as you are reporting inaccurate information. RIM did not claim it as a REGISTERED trademark on its website.

I would venture to assume that at the very least they may be made to cease marketing BBM in Canada as BBM.

The official name of the app is Blackberry Messenger. There is no need to change the name. The regular joe will just continue to call it BBM and RIM will just market it as Blackberry Messenger instead of just BBM. Simple. No confusion and everyone will still be happy. RIM cannot control if people choose to shorten the name of their products, they just have to not market it by the shorten name if it will infringe others.

Case close...

==========================

RIM Trademark and Logo List

The following sets out some of the word marks and logos of Research In Motion Limited (RIM). The Trademark Status column indicates the status of the trademark in the United States (® indicates a registered trademark; ™ indicates a trademark).

BBM™

It feels like everyone is picking on the little kid at school whenever you read anything to do with RIM these days...
Who would have thought that RIM is the underdog ?

RIM did what Apple did - they use the name, wait to get sued, throw money at the lawyers to make problem go away, if it isnt going away they settle quietly. Wonder if RIM has the stamina ?

So if this is the case should the BBC ( British Broadcasting Corp) sue all the porn sites for using their abbreviation!?

Look at thier logo (circa 1999 - 2001)
Next thing you know they will be suing RIM over BlackBerry's Bullet logo

http://bbm.ca/_images/logos_vert.jpg

All these lawsuits are getting out of hand! Perhaps RIM should sue Tim Horton’s for using “Roll up the “Rim” to win”.

Great! This is a perfect time for RIM to kill off BlackBerry all together and startover. RIM is just starting 2 really piss me off.

They can stop Rim using BBM but they can't stop us calling it BBM :) after all, we coined the BBM not Rim

if BBM can prove that a sufficiently reasonable number of customers actually confuse BBM with BB Messenger, I believe BBM has a case.

RIM just can't catch a break this year. Hope 2012 is a better year.

Im a BB fan but this is absolutely rediculous...u cant fault apple/android fans for ridiculing RIM..its embarassing to say the least....i have refrained from critisizing those 2 bozos but this is too much...the company will even lose more money as value if they lose one of their non trademarked names...their biggest probably...how big of losers those 2 bozos are...they should get fired...they have no business sense at all i feel at times...amazing really...and they were printing up BBM me shirts in thailand and at other places...they sound like cheap chinese companies stealing trademarks...
boy...the stpry with those 2 bozos will never end...only when u think they are getting back on track , they get exposed for doing something stupid...
amazing...they are hell bent on taking this company down...

Here is a great question with Blackberry Messenger being around for so many years why did it take them this long to decide to file suit?

Granted RIM did use it anyway knowing full well they couldn't use it forever and they deserve the suit being filed but why so long.

So now its. BBmessanger done

What a load.... Everyone just wants a piece of the pie as RIM is going down the tubes unfortunately...

As much as I would like to, I can not defend RIM on this one.

So that means no more BBM Music haha

First of all Trademarks are not like patents, they are not absolute. Just because you have a name trademarked does not mean no one anywhere can use the name. The registered trademark is only good for the goods and services for which it was registered. This is why BASIS won it's trademark suit with BBX because they use the BBX name with software used on mobile devices. BBM Canada is neither a competitor of RIM nor do they serve the same customers with related goods and services. Therefore RIM can use the BBM name even though it has been trademarked by BBM Canada. BBM Canada is simply looking for a payout and RIM wouldn't do it so now they are suing. Now, if RIM ever decides to get into the television and radio business then they will have a claim.

You do realize that the two companies would have to be in the same line of business or close enough for consumers to get confused by the name use for all this to matter? Otherwise, it's hard for companies to say nobody can use a three letter word, especially when the official title of the app is Blackberry Messenger and BBM was created through the consumers and media use of the word.

Jeez some of you guys are such annoying fanboys. I like RIM, and I use their products but to defend this is absolutely insane. THEY DESERVE TO BE SUED!!!

And I guarantee you that if it was RIM suing someone over the BBM trademark you guys on here would be saying "Go RIM! They can't use your BBM name and get away with it!!!". Wake up, RIM will lose this and they deserve to lose it.

While B1aze is normally a solid poster, I'll need to disagree with him here regarding trademark law.

In Canada, trademarks can exist in two ways: Registered or common law. BBM Canada has a registered trademark, but a common law trademark may exist in favour of RIM. A common law trademark exists where there is a local reputation that the public associates with a name. So if RIM can establish that more people in the community (likely narrowed to Toronto here) associate the term "BBM" with RIM's product, then BBM Canada will lose. Regardless of the marketing push, if BBM Canada failed to defend their trademark, or the public does not associate BBM with BBM Canada, then their trademark is unenforceable.

It follows, then, that if more people will associate BBM with RIM than BBM Canada, BBM Canada will not be successful, which I think will be the case. Trademark litigation is actually the most expensive of the different types of IP litigation in Canada (patents, copyright and trademarks), so it may be a drain on resources. Nevertheless, BBM Canada has a difficult case since BBM has existed since the mid-2000s and their failure to enforce their trademark in a timely manner may have been to their detriment.

I'm not sure how the law works in Canada - but if this were in the US they wouldn't have a case. In order to keep your trademark you have to go after every case of trademark infringement. Also, not really sure it's smart of BBM Canada to kick RIM when they're down - Canada needs good company's like RIM to stick around for a while in Canada.

I honestly don't see the fuss here, the only logo most people would associate with BBM is the one up there, the speech bubbles with the BB logo inside it, i've never known or seen any other BBM trademark and i reckon like someone said up there, it's an acronym, so whether RIM registers BBM as a trademark or not, people will still call it BBM because after all it is BlackBerry Messenger thats how the users have always known it, because that's what it is...

And the self inflicted hits keep on rolling along for RIM.

Tim

RIM has two missues of the trademark..

One for the "BBM Music" app and service and than representing BBM (Blackberry Messenger) as having a trademark on this webpage:

http://us.blackberry.com/apps-software/blackberrymessenger/

It clearly shows BBM with the "tm" next to it.

Can we all say DOH!

Another fine example of the true talants and abilities of Jim and Mike.

Tim

All RIM needs to do is get rid of the acronym "BBM", replace it with "BlackBerry Messenger" in all marketing and communications, and advise carriers and dealers to follow suit. Problem solved.

Doesn't this sound familiar with "The Astonishing Tribe" they didn't want to use the acronym TAT mostly because it didn't sound all that great I bet but they wanted to make sure all the media and acknowledgment used their full name and not the acronym.

RIM if they KNEW which it seems pretty clear they did should be punished for this but yes they will likely just come up with a quick fix adding a period in between or changing letter sizes as was mentioned.

I wonder how many people that work at BBM have and use Blackberry

RIP RIM

Has it started to feel like you are shouting at a tree yet? I admire your tenacity (and whole heartidly agree with your point) but at what point do you say "they broke the law(patent/trademark law), they shouldn't have done it, and now they will pay. And you should be careful using jack kennedy he might just sue YOUR ass off for using his name (even if it is your real name google rolling stones [band] vs playboy writer) anyway cheers to your point.

P.s. Maybe it should be looked at like a murderer is still a murderer no matter how swell of a guy he is

doesn't matter if they win the case and rim has to change it... bbm is already to branded into people's mouth... i for one will always call it bbm

RIM has no chance of winning this. This is Exactly like the Whole WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) VS WWF (World Wrestling Federation) that thing went to court for yrs and and the Wildlife Foundation won.. So now The WWF became WWE.

People are defending are defending RIM and they should have the right to use the name, but it's clear as day RIM is at fault they knew what they were doing they use a trademark name for their own and they dont want own up and work with BBM Canada. What kind of business sense is that?

BBM Canada Had the name since 1944 and had the BBM trademark for since forever, RIM hasn't tried to work anything out. They could have spent a few millions to help rebrand BBM canada but they choose not to. So now RIM is going to have to pay and not use the BBM name anymore. I love my Blackberry but this has been a bad year for RIM. They definitely need a new restructure cause what they have now isn't working for them. RIM is wrong Period.

So whatever. They will now stop calling it bbm. But call it blackberry messenger. We the people will still call it bbm though. "Bbm canada" can't sue us all lol

How about they just drop a "B" and call it BM? Everyone would call it BBM afterwards anyways. It's like how everyone calls the Willis tower the Sears tower. It will ALWAYS be the Sears tower

Blackberries are very high in polyphenolic antioxidants.