I had not heard about this previously, but thought it was interesting. Samsung released a new cellular phone earlier this year called the BlackJack. The phone was distributed originally by AT&T (then dba Cingular). The maker and distrbuter of the popular line of Blackberry smartphones is Research in Motion. RIM filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement against Samsung in Federal court claiming the name violates TM held by them. The plaintiff claims the use of the name BlackJack "constitutes false designation of origin, unfair competition, and trademark dilution". Another issue that RIM used to streghten the case was the fact that it is a competing product also in the smartphone industry and it would take advantage of previous marketing efforts by Blackberry by using a confusing name...
One more issue was the similarity and use of the querty keyboard, a full keyboard with which it is easy to type and text message.
I think this is interesting because it represents another case where infringement might just be defended because of the evolution of modern products. In this case the similarity of the names is small and there is no obvious intention to take advantage of the Blackberry name, if anything Samsung is as establliched in the mobile phone business as BB. Another thing to notice: the claim on similarities of the features of the phone, it being a smartphone, the full keyboard, etc.. is non-substantiated and is a product of the logical evolutionof the markets and the products. This is more and more an issue, where companies claim they are being copied, but maybe it is just the fact that wanting t serv ice the market's needs in the best way possible two manufacturers arrive to a similar product. The consumer wants certain features and functions, and the competitors are just supplying them...
It will be interesting to see how this kind of dispute continues to evolve in markets that get more and more competitive.
A link to an article on this:
http://www.smartphoneblast.com/articles/2006/12/20061211-RIM-Sues-Samsung-over.html
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It could be said that if they are going to go after Blackjack for similar features then they should go after all cell phones with the Qerty keyboard, or that they themselves could be a target for sucha frivolous lawsuit b/c they have features similar to those fo preexisting cell phones.
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