RIM in court win over 'BBM' trademark
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has won a minor legal battle over the use of the "BBM" trademark, ahead of what will likely be a tumultuous time for the company.
BBM stands for BlackBerry Messenger, the instant messaging application pre-installed with the smartphone, but had been under threat by Canadian television and radio ratings firm BBM Canada.
The ratings company filed an infringement suit with a Canadian federal court after a cease-and-desist letter to RIM in 2010 failed.
The court found that though the 50-year-old trademark belonged to the ratings company, because the two embattled firms belong to different industries, RIM could be let off the hook.
"We are pleased that the Federal Court of Canada sided with RIM and confirmed that RIM's use of BBM does not infringe the trademark rights of BBM Canada as they had alleged," RIM said in a statement.
It's a lucky win for RIM, who only a few months earlier was forced to change the name of its upcoming BBX operating system to BlackBerry 10 in a similar trademark infringement case.
RIM was sued by Basis International in a federal court in Albuquerque, NM in a bid to prevent the smartphone maker from using the term ahead of the major announcement. It left junior lackeys less than a day to frantically change the PowerPoint slides before the supposed-name was announced at DevCon Asia.
The company was left surprised by the move, and announced the name-change in a tweet within hours of the court ruling.
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