US Judge to issue ruling on blocking Typo sales “promptly”

In the legal case between BlackBerry and Typo, a US Judge said two of BlackBerry’s three patents in the case appear to be valid.

Kevin Johnson, a lawyer for BlackBerry, told U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick in San Francisco that Typo’s copying in the design of an external case for Apple’s iPhone was “intentional and deliberate.”

The similarities between Typo’s iPhone case, which has a keypad that attaches to the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s to allow users to easily tap out messages, and the keyboard for BlackBerry’s Q10 smartphone are “unmistakable,” Johnson said.

BlackBerry is seeking a court order blocking Typo from selling the case.

Judge Orrick said that it doesn’t appear that two out of the three patents at issue in the case are invalid. He said he will issue a ruling on BlackBerry’s request to block Typo sales “promptly.”

James Asperger, a lawyer for BlackBerry, said the company will suffer irreparable harm if Typo is allowed to continue to sell the case because it has invested billions in the development of its keyboard and has lost sales to customers who buy the case instead of a BlackBerry Q10.

Olivier Taillieu, an attorney for Typo, said BlackBerry hasn’t shown that its mobile phone sales are driven by the popularity of its keyboards, he told Orrick.

“The Q10 by and large was a failure” and “has literally not sold,” Taillieu said. BlackBerry “hasn’t provided any evidence of nexus between the keyboard and the commercial success of this device,” he said.

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