RIM Lawsuit Settled, Cingular May Use 'Blackjack' Name
In a statement released to wire services early this morning, BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion said it has settled its lawsuit with Samsung over its use of the "BlackJack" trademark for handsets sold in the US by Cingular Wireless (now AT&T).
But the exact terms of the settlement are being left private, and those parts of the settlement that were revealed this morning are about as vague as the news of the original lawsuit. Judging from RIM's own words and not Reuters' interpretation of them, it appears AT&T will be permitted to continue to use the trademark on a limited basis.
Though Samsung will withdraw its trademark registration application, RIM may not have been able to contest AT&T's right to use an ordinary word as a common law (i.e., non-registered) trademark if it is the first to do so. "Blackjack" clearly qualifies as an ordinary word, as does "blackberry."
Yet an intriguing clue was left open by RIM's statement, which the San Jose Mercury News attributed to a typo, but which may actually have been intentional: RIM referred to the trademark Cingular/AT&T may continue to use as "Blackjack" with a lower-case "j."
One of RIM's earlier complaints -- the one the company did make clear early on -- was that it resented how the new Samsung trademark was construed so that customers could confuse it with a RIM product. RIM elevates the second "B" in "BlackBerry" to upper-case as well. For Samsung's and AT&T's common-law rights to the word "blackjack" to be respected, they may have had to concede the elevation of their "J."
Why is this important? BlackJack units with the upper-case "J" are already available for sale, and more are being manufactured. In its original lawsuit, RIM requested that unsold BlackJack units with the infringing trademark be turned over to RIM for destruction. If RIM's precise spelling is actually accurate, Samsung and AT&T may still have to make corrections to its logos and marketing campaigns, which could still be costly.
BetaNews has contacted RIM representatives for clarification, which may still be forthcoming.