Gadgetory

blackberry is suing Facebook whatsapp and Instagram blackberry filed a lawsuit on Tuesday March 6 alleging that Facebook is infringing on several patents related to messaging services blackberry issued a statement saying we have a strong claim that Facebook has infringed on our intellectual property and after several years of dialogue we also have an obligation to our shareholders to pursue appropriate legal remedies Facebook's deputy general counsel gave a strongly worded response that said blackberry suit sadly reflects the current state of its messaging business having abandoned its efforts to innovate blackberry is now looking to tax the innovation of others we intend to fight so I trudged through the 117 page lawsuit to see what exactly blackberry was suing over let's get through some of it in the lawsuit blackberry says that Facebook created mobile messaging applications that co-opt BlackBerry's innovations these apps include Facebook Messenger whatsapp messenger and Instagram one of the patents covers messaging notification techniques BlackBerry's patent covers a way to modify an icon to alert the user that multiple unread notifications await take a look at BlackBerry's patent figure and Facebook's way of showing a similar thing blackberry also has a patent covering a user interface for selecting a photo tag and a way to give the user a field to enter a photo tag blackberry provided images where it says Facebook infringes on this patent and let's highlight one more patent blackberry patented a method for displaying time stamps depending on when a message was received if you received a bunch of messages at once you don't see one timestamp if some time passed it may see another timestamp sounds familiar right BlackBerry says that Facebook's usage of its patents have succeeded in diverting consumers away from black bears products and services so here's a summary of what blackberry wants if it wins the lawsuit one Facebook whatsapp and Instagram could no longer infringe on the patents mentioned in this lawsuit two websites and apps for facebook facebook Messenger what's that messenger and Instagram could no longer be made used or offered for sale and three and unspecified amount of damages does this mean that Facebook's messaging apps are dead in the water not just yet this could end a number of ways Facebook's methods may not be covered by black bears patents patents do not cover ideas but specific methods and systems alternatively the two parties could settle out of court Facebook could also be engineering new methods to accomplish the same results without infringing on BlackBerry's patents this ought to be very interesting keep it here at C net for more coverage Amaya's act Arnall see you online