BlackBerry asks court to make sure Typo obeys the sales ban that starts Friday

Back in March, BlackBerry won a preliminary injunction against Typo, preventing the latter from selling its snap together QWERTY keyboard case for the Apple iPhone. But it seems that sensing that an injunction was in the air, Typo made deals to sell its product through resellers and retailers. BlackBerry claims that the design and style of Typo's QWERTY keyboard is copied from the BlackBerry Q10, and seeks the immediate ban of Typo sales.

While BlackBerry was arguing in court for a sales ban, Typo responded that it wasn't necessary since it was a small company with a limited ability to produce inventory, which was sold only via its website. But BlackBerry found Typo's QWERTY keyboard case for sale at the Los Angeles International Airport after the court hearing. BlackBerry is concerned that Typo lied to the court about its ability to produce and sell its product.


Technically, there is nothing illegal about the Typo sales at the airport since the injunction doesn't start until BlackBerry posts a $500,000 bond with the court that is due on Friday. Bond is posted just in case the injunction is overturned somewhere down the line and Typo has to be reimbursed for lost sales. Typo had requested that BlackBerry post a much larger bond, but even the judge felt that its request was too high. "The amount of bond requested by Typo is wildly inappropriate given the relatively limited sales activity that Typo represented to the Court had occurred to date," said Judge William Orrick.

source: PCWorld via Crackberry