BlackBerry drags Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to court over patent infringement

BlackBerry sues the social media giant.

| Updated: Wednesday, March 7, 2018, 12:22 [IST]

BlackBerry, the Canadian enterprise software company has filed a lawsuit against the social media giant Facebook and its two associate apps -- WhatsApp and Instagram. BlackBerry alleges that these social media platforms infringe on company's messaging apps patents.

BlackBerry sues Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp over infringment

In a sprawling 117 pages complaint, BlackBerry states that the patent-protected messaging product BlackBerry Messenger, also known as BBM, set the foundation for modern mobile communications

The patents

BlackBerry is now claiming that the social media platform has infringed upon its patent-protected property "using a number of the innovative security, user interface, and functionality enhancing features that made BlackBerry's products such a critical and commercial success in the first place."

In December 2016, BlackBerry sold the rights to design, manufacture and sell smartphones with its branding to TCL, leaving BlackBerry Limited in charge of the software end and mobile security products.

BlackBerry also claims that its patents cover cryptographic techniques to protect user privacy, user interface elements of messaging and the mixing of mobile gaming and messaging.

The response

BlackBerry is seeking to "redress for the harm caused by Defendants' unlawful use of BlackBerry's intellectual property," which may include injunctive relief and monetary damages, according to the complaint.

In a statement given to Cheddar, Facebook responded, "Blackberry's suit sadly reflects the current state of its messaging business. Having abandoned its efforts to innovate, Blackberry is now looking to tax the innovation of others. We intend to fight."

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Legal battles

Earlier, Facebook got in trouble due to its legal battle with the Belgian commission for the protection of privacy (CPP). A Belgian court has ordered the company to stop collecting personal data of users or face daily fines of €250,000 a day, or up to €100m. The court on Friday ruled that the social network giant had broken privacy laws by tracking its users on third-party sites.

"Facebook informs us insufficiently about gathering information about us, the kind of data it collects, what it does with that data and how long it stores it," said the court. "It also does not gain our consent to collect and store all this information," the court added.

The court has also ordered Facebook to delete all data it had collected illegally on citizens of Belgium, including those who didn't use the social network.