RIM deals Samung tough card in Vic court
Research in Motion's (RIM) long running legal battle with Samsung Australia over its use of the name "BlackJack" for its answer to RIM's BlackBerry will continue in the Melbourne Federal Court tomorrow.
RIM's legal action against Samsung migrated to Australia following its decision in 2006 to sue Samsung in the US, where it claimed Samsung's BlackJack, which runs Windows Mobile and QWERTY keyboard, was too similar to BlackBerry. A photo gallery of the device is available here.
A spokesperson for Samsung would not discuss the matter with ZDNet.com.au. RIM had first made its statement of claim in an Australian Federal Court in October 2007. The two companies have appeared in court over 30 times during the past two years. RIM's initial claim centred on intellectual property and trademark breaches it alleges were committed by Samsung. The trial commenced in April this year.
Recent conflict between the two companies has centred on the alleged destruction of emails earlier this year on the part of Samsung employees, however Justice Kenny had dismissed RIM's allegations as misconceived.
"It is not enough to show that the respondent destroyed documents deliberately. Rather, the applicants must show that the respondent deliberately destroyed documents with the intention of destroying evidence," Justice Kenny had determined in April.
RIM was granted leave to reconsider its motion, which it is expected to deliver tomorrow.
RIM spokespeople were unavailable for comment at the time of writing.