April 10, 2019
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According to CNBC, BlackBerry Ltd. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Twitter Inc. in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, accusing Twitter of infringing six of BlackBerry’s patents. Specifically, BlackBerry alleges that Twitter, a “relative latecomer” to mobile messaging, has been wrongfully using technology in its mobile messaging applications that was originally developed by BlackBerry, such as push notifications and mobile advertising techniques.
Engadget reports that BlackBerry is alleging Twitter is using some of the “functionality enhancing features” that led to BlackBerry’s early success in the market, and in doing so, Twitter has allegedly “succeeded in diverting consumers away from BlackBerry’s products and services”.
BlackBerry, based in Waterloo, was an early provider on the messaging services scene, but lost traction in the wake of other mobile devices such as Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy. The lawsuit against Twitter is not unlike other patent infringement cases that BlackBerry filed last year against Facebook Inc. and Snap Inc., matters that are still pending before the Court in California.
U.S. District Judge George Wu is scheduled to preside over both the Facebook and Snap lawsuits, and it is anticipated the same judge will also preside over the Twitter lawsuit.
Authors: Jaclyn Tilak and Anna Condon