Lawsuit Against RIM Over Emoticons

http://www.blackberryos.com/bbos-ima...awsuit-t87.jpg

Yes, you read that right. Research in Motion is wrapped up in yet another lawsuit. This time over emoticons, yes, emoticons. Varia Holdings LLC filed a suit claiming RIM is infringing US Patent 7167731 - "Emoticon Input Method and Apparatus". With this suit, Varia Holdings LLC is demanding that sales of all BlackBerry devices ceases immediately and that the company be awarded damages.

http://www.blackberryos.com/bbos-ima...it-doc-u25.jpg

The patent states:

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...an input key that, when pressed by the user while in text mode, results in the display of a list of emoticons for selection by the user. By displaying a list of emoticons, a more user friendly environment is created through which users may employ emoticons in their communications.

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Now my first thought is this: So why just BlackBerry? Luckily, that isn't the case. Other companies that make Android devices also had suits filed against them. While the wording of this patent can be loosely interpreted, we'll have to wait and see what the US Courts have to say over the matter. Hopefully nothing along the lines of, "Those dang, Canadians..." because I sure would be quite unhappy should I never be able to buy a BlackBerry 10 device. :'(

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this is stupid :(

Yep, it sure is. Any court with a gram of sense will throw this out. The patent was awarded in 2007, you gotta know that there is plenty of prior art on this. This one is worse than the "sym" key law suit, by another patent troll.

The curious part about this is is that they're not suing Apple... Idiots

Lawsuit against RIM over Emoticons? Well that's a very lame news huh.. Instead of filing this non-sense lawsuit against RIM, they could've done a very much unique type of Emoticons that would overdo RIM.. This lawsuit thing will certainly go nowhere.. This is a waste of time.. They should used their time on how they will be able to out-do RIM which I doubt would be possible :)

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Originally Posted by agentblackberry

the curious part about this is is that they're not suing apple... Idiots

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I thought the same exact thing.

I wonder which emoticons I can use to express my thoughts regarding the actions of Varia Holdings LLC against RIM?

Maybe this one? (n) or (=| boooring