Blackberry lawsuit: Facebook may need to change apps after patent verdict

Some features of Facebook apps violate the Munich district court according to patents of the smartphone pioneer Blackberry. Facebook could be forced to change the app of the online network, the chat services WhatsApp and Messenger and the photo platform Instagram to continue to offer them in Germany. A Facebook spokesman said the company already has software updates in place. In addition, they challenge the validity of the Blackberry patents before the Federal Patent Court.

Enforcement of the judgment currently open

Blackberry may provisionally enforce the District Court's decision if the Company deposits a security deposit. This is a common approach to patent litigation to compensate for the damage of the defendant company, if in the end it should be right. Blackberry was initially unable to reach an opinion and there is no information on whether the decision should be enforced. From the case first had the Southgerman newspaper reported on Friday,

The trial in Munich reflects a patent dispute between Blackberry and Facebook in the US. There, Blackberry sued the online network in March 2018, accused of infringing seven patents. An example of this is the idea of ​​providing an app icon with a counter for the number of unread messages. Or also to mark people in photos and to get suggested names in a search line. Facebook also accused Blackberry of patent infringement a few months later in a counterclaim.

Also in the procedure in Germany are concerned only "a few specific functions" of the apps, emphasized Facebook. The online network is testing a vocation.

Offer and deliver the apps "in the Federal Republic of Germany"

"The judgments banned the supply and delivery of the aforementioned applications in the FRG for use in the FRG, as far as they use the patent patents," said a spokeswoman for the court South German newspaper, Facebook can comply with the ban by offering apps "no longer offers and delivers or previously modified so that the specifically attacked functionality is changed."

Blackberry was a pioneer in the early years of the smartphone market, but lost touch as touchscreen devices like Apple's iPhone and phones became popular with Google's Android system. Meanwhile, BlackBerry is no longer developing its own smartphones, but has a Chinese vendor build phones under its brand name. The Canadian firm is instead focusing on the software business with companies – and sees an opportunity in its decades of accumulated patent portfolio to supplement the cash register. So Black sued next to Facebook, the makers of the popular photo app Snapchat.

(Tiw)