In an escalation of the lawsuit salvos fired between wireless software and handheld players, Research
In Motion said Wednesday that it has filed a third lawsuit against its would-be rival upstart Good
Technology.
Waterloo, Ontario’s RIM alleged in a third lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware that Good Technology has
engaged in unfair competition, false advertising, trademark infringement and trademark dilution concerning the use of RIM and its
BlackBerry brands.
As with the previous two suits, RIM is asking the court for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief and an award of monetary
damages. Moreover, RIM further asserts that Sunnyvale, Calif.’s Good Technology was well aware that it was infringing on RIM’s
rights and would like the court to award extra monetary damages for Good’s infringement as well as attorneys’ fees and costs to RIM.
Good announced its intention to take on RIM in May 2002 and,
aside from some product announcements, has been garnering more attention for its legal maneuvers. In fact, Good, in anticipation of
being sued by RIM, struck first, suing RIM a couple of weeks after announcing its existence.
On May 28, Good sued RIM, alleging that the Canadian
company’s patent for unified e-mail was invalid. Legal experts said it is not uncommon for firms who believe they are going to be
sued to sue first in self-defense.
RIM confirmed Good’s suspicions by filing its first suit in
June, alleging that Good’s products and services infringe on four RIM patents within RIM’s Wireless Integration Patent Portfolio.
In July 2002, RIM filed a separate complaint against Good,
claiming that the outfit’s technology infringes on a portion of RIM’s Copyright Portfolio associated with the user interface on
RIM’s line of BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds.
A RIM spokesperson would not comment due to the various litigations, butthe firm noted in a public release that it is checking to see if
more of its rights have been violated by the startup.
