Remember BBX, the name for RIM's new mobile operating system that was announced back at BlackBerry DevCon? Hopefully you didn't grow too attached to the BBX moniker, as RIM's official @BlackBerryDev Twitter account announced tonight that the new platform has been re-branded "BlackBerry 10." The company has yet to offer an explanation for the name change, but it might have something to do with a ruling handed down in an Albuquerque, N.M. court earlier today that saw RIM hit with a temporary restraining order, barring it from using the BBX name. The suit was filed by software firm BASIS International, which uses the "BBx" trademark for the name of its own piece of business software.
This whole name-change situation is kind of strange, if only because RIM's had been using the BBX name for a few months now but then suddenly opted for BlackBerry 10 instead. Of course, BlackBerry 10 more closely follows the naming scheme that RIM's used up until now (BlackBerry 6, 7, etc.), though I suspect there'll be more than a few folks wondering exactly what happened to BlackBerry 8 and 9. Anyway! We've got the full press release announcing the court decision down below followed by a source link to the full ruling, just in case you're in the mood for a little late night legal reading.
US Federal Court Bars RIM (BlackBerry) from Using BASIS’ BBX Trademark
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The United States Federal Court in Albuquerque today granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Research in Motion (RIM), immediately barring RIM from using BASIS International Ltd.’s incontestable federally registered BBX trademark at RIM’s Asian DevCon on December 7-8 in Singapore.
“despite the fact that the two companies are not direct competitors, the parties’ respective BBX products are highly related and target the same class of consumers, that is, business application software developers (TRO page 9).”
RIM had refused BASIS’ requests to stop the infringement at the DevCon conference, which resulted in BASIS filing for the TRO.
In rejecting RIM’s arguments against the issuance of a TRO, the court found that, “The BBX mark is identical to the mark which RIM is allegedly using to present its BBX product (TRO page 8).” and “despite the fact that the two companies are not direct competitors, the parties’ respective BBX products are highly related and target the same class of consumers, that is, business application software developers (TRO page 9).” The court went on to concur with BASIS that “The alleged infringement is likely to cause customers and prospective customers to wrongly believe that the software applications created using BASIS’s development tools are only compatible with RIM’s BBX operating system (TRO page 11).”
The order described how the “Courts use a well-established four-part test to decide whether to grant injunctive relief (TRO page 7)” and concluded that “Accordingly, after considering all the factors relative to a determination of whether an injunction should be granted, the Court finds that all factors weigh in favor of BASIS (TRO page 8).”
See BASIS’ latest generation of BBX in action by running the sample restaurant tip calculator and home mortgage calculator applications from links.basis.com/buidemos to experience BASIS’ BBX platform-independent solutions on your own smartphone or tablet.
About BASIS
BASIS International Ltd. is a global software company whose software developer community is a worldwide network of partners for whom the BASIS “BBx Generations” of products form the foundation for proven and reliable software solutions. Since 1985, BASIS’ mission has been to blaze a trail by producing ambitious and innovative programming languages, database products, development tools, and an application framework for their community to build upon. BASIS is committed to delivering platform independence to the server and client, including browser-based mobile clients.
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