Early in 2014, BlackBerry sued the Ryan Seacrest-backed company Typo Products, claiming that its Typo Keyboard case for iPhone “blatantly copied BlackBerry’s keyboard.” BlackBerry was later granted a sales ban against the Typo Keyboard, but Typo continued to sell its case. Now it’s going to pay for doing so.
A judge today ordered Typo Products to pay BlackBerry more than $860,000 for continuing to sell its Typo Keyboard after it was hit with an injunction to block sales.
A Typo Products rep responded to the ruling by saying that it’s “part of the ongoing patent litigation related to the initial Typo product,” adding that the decision has no affect on the Typo 2 or its upcoming iPad keyboard. Meanwhile, a BlackBerry rep simply said, “The court’s order speaks for itself.”
Considering how Typo Products borrowed so heavily from BlackBerry’s keyboard with the design for the first Typo Keyboard, it’s no surprise that the company continued to sell the case after it was hit with a sales ban. The company will likely pay the fine and then continue on with its Typo 2, which is slightly less BlackBerry-ish, and its upcoming iPad keyboard.