Monday, November 12, 2007

Can You 'Own' The Words 'Black Cherry' and 'Strawberry'?

Apparently BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion thinks so.

Black Cherry, Strawberry: not only cola flavors but target of BlackBerry trademark suit's Russell Shaw -- Remember not quite two years ago, when BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion was being sued by a patent-holding law firm many thought was acting like a “patent troll?” My how the tables have turned. As Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper reports today, RIM is suing not a patent holding firm, but popular phone maker LG Electronics Inc. And [...]

And from the Globe and Mail:

As far as RIM is concerned, any wireless device with the words Black, Berry or Pearl in their name should be off limits to rivals unless they have its consent, the company says in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

I'm not much into Patent Law so its not like I have any real legal knowledge of what I speak here. But as a good friend of mine likes to say, "Common sense is the least common sense of all". I just hope that the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California will be imbued with a large amount of the least common sense when it hears this case.

H/T to US Patents

No comments: