Blackberry sues E!'s host for $860,000

joan

February 20, 2015 12:30 PM

In the course of Ryan fixing his iPhone keyboard problem, he created a company called Typo which is now been accused of copying Blackberry's keyboard design.

Telephone giants Blackberry has filed an injunction against E!'s host Ryan Seacrest and his company for infringing on the company's patents.

Seacrest thought he had a genius idea when he launched Typo, (an iPhone case that has a keyboard built in) just because when he got an iPhone, he missed the keyboard on his Blackberry.

Typo enables other smartphones to have Balckberry keyboard look-alikes and was popular. It quickly sold out at $99 each, reports BuisnessInsider.

But a few months after its launch, Blackberry filed an injunction against the start-up for infringing on the company's patents.

Blackberry's general counsel Steve Zipperstein said in January 2014:

"We are flattered by the desire to graft our keyboard onto other smartphones, but we will not tolerate such activity without fair compensation for using our intellectual property and our technological innovations,"

Blackberry demanded more than $860,000 after Typo continued to accept orders even after the injunction.

According to Recode's Ina Fried reports that Seacrest's Typo 2 product, which has a slightly altered keyboard, is not affected. The legal proceeding is ongoing.

In a statement by a Typo spokesperson: "This is a ruling as part of the ongoing patent litigation related to the initial Typo product. It has no impact on the Typo 2 product currently in the marketplace or our other planned product releases for the tablet. We cannot comment any further."

Ryan is still to address the issue.

joan