Typo iPhone Keyboard Banned By Court Order
Ryan Seacrest, TV personality and host of the “American Idol” show, co founded Typo Products LLC together with Laurence Hallier who is also CEO of Show Media and privately held Hallier Investments. The first product from Typo Products is the Typo keyboard, a physical keyboard accessory for the iPhone, that resembles the physical BlackBerry keyboard. A press release mentions how Ryan Seacrest became interested in a physical keyboard accessory for the iPhone: “The back story of Seacrest’s interest in this — for many of his friends and colleagues, carrying two phones was a habit: One for typing and correspondence and an iPhone for virtually everything else. One night, Ryan and his friend Laurence Hallier, CEO of Show Media, were out to dinner and both had phones on the table. Two people, four phones!”.
Typo Products LLC said: “When we set out to design the Typo Keyboard, our goal was simple: Create a keyboard and case that would add the absolute minimum additional length and thickness to the iPhone, while still providing protection to the phone and a butter-smooth, tactile typing experience […] The result is the Typo Keyboard, which adds just short of a ¼ inch in thickness and a less than ¾ inch in total length to the iPhone, while still providing an unrivaled typing experience. This is made possible by miniaturizing the components on our circuit board, using our patented TYPO Touch keyboard technology and one of the world’s smallest lithium-ion batteries, measuring at just 1mm in thickness“.
At the beginning of 2014, in January, we also reported that BlackBery filed a lawsuit against Typo Products LLC (just one day after Alicia Keys left BlackBerry’s creative director position), claiming that the the Typo keyboard infringes on the Canadian company’s patents about smartphone related keyboards. A statement issued by BlackBerry’s general counsel and chief legal officer Steve Zipperstein saaid: “This is a blatant infringement against BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard, and we will vigorously protect our intellectual property against any company that attempts to copy our unique design […] From the beginning, BlackBerry has always focused on offering an exceptional typing experience that combines a great design with ergonomic excellence. We are flattered by the desire to graft our keyboard onto other smartphones, but we will not tolerate such activity without fair compensation for using our intellectual property and our technological innovations”.
Well, this week, Judge William Orrick granted BlackBerry a preliminary injunction that bans Typo Products LLC from commercializing the Typo keyboard for the iPhone. According to Judge William Orrick, BlackBerry had “established a likelihood of proving that Typo infringes the patents at issue and Typo has not presented a substantial question of the validity of those patents”. Given the ruling of the San Francisco Judge, Typo Products cannot sell its product for the time being.
As we mentioned, Ryan Seacrest invested a million dollars in Typo Pdoducts LLC, out of necessity as he was tired of carrying both a BlackBerry and an iPhone with him. The Typo keyboard for the iPhone is pretty useful if you ask use; while the downside is that it makes your iPhone bigger, the advantage is that it frees real estate on your display as you won’t need the digital keyboard anymore. Not to mention that typing on an actual physical keyboard feels better. As you imagine, Ryan Seacrest wasn’t at all happy with the ruling, saying that his company will continue to invest in making innovative products that will help people and their businesses.
On the other hand, BlackBerry CEO John Chen was very happy with the preliminary injunction and mentioned that while flattered by the Typo keyboard for the iPhone, the Canadian company does not tolerate patent infringement. BlackBerry is trying to restart production of the BlackBerry Bold and the company’s future rides on new products that incorporate the iconic BlackBerry keyboard, which means the Canadian company will make sure the Typo Keyboard will be completely banned as it is a direct threat to the success of future BlackBerry devices. At the moment, the Typo keyboard is still avaialable to purchase from Typo Products’ website, but it will probably be removed very soon in order to comply with the ruling.
