BlackBerry has another celebrity lined up in its sights. The Canadian mobile device maker, who recently fired “Creative Director” Alicia Keys, is now filing a lawsuit against television personality Ryan Seacrest’s company, “Typo.” (Is that spelled correctly?)
BlackBerry announced Friday it has filed a lawsuit against Typo Products, founded by media star and former CNET TV personality Ryan Seacrest, which promises to bring a BlackBerry-style keyboard case to the iPhone.
The company alleges patent infringement, saying that the Typo case “blatantly copied” BlackBerry’s keyboard when it developed its iPhone keyboard case.
The Typo Keyboard Case is a $99 snap-on Bluetooth accessory designed for use with the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s.
BlackBerry general counsel and chief legal officer Steve Zipperstein said his company will “vigorously protect our intellectual property against any company that attempts to copy our unique design.” He went on to say that while the company was “flattered” by Typo’s desire to enable other iPhones with a Blackberry style keyboard, it wouldn’t be tolerated unless BlackBerry received fair compensation.
Typo was founded by Ryan Seacrest and entrepreneur Laurence Hallier, and has announced the keyboard will be available for pre-order later this month.
