BlackBerry sues Avaya for infringing on its patents

BlackBerry has filed a lawsuit against Avaya, accusing the multi-national tech company of infringing on eight of its U.S. patents related to mobile communications. The patents allegedly used by Avaya were filed between 1998 and 2011, and include 9143801, 8964849, 8116739, 8886212, 8688439, 7440561, 8554218 and 737296.

In the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Dallas, BlackBerry says that Avaya used BlackBerry's proprietary technology in a number of different products. BlackBerry says that it is seeking to put an end to Avaya's "unlawful conduct," and wants to be reimbursed for damages.

BlackBerry wrote to Avaya last December 17th to tell the company that it was infringing on its patents. Either BlackBerry received a response that it was not happy with, or else Avaya didn't respond at all. Either way, BlackBerry felt the need to protect its intellectual property. According to CEO John Chen, the manufacturer counts 44,000 patents. Chen pointed out last September that the IP portfolio is "one of the youngest patent portfolios in the entire industry, so monetization of our patents is an important aspect of our turnaround."


The suit might not grab everyone's attention like Apple v. Samsung, but it is a big deal for BlackBerry and we will be keeping an eye on the proceedings.

source: iam via Crackberry