A year ago, BlackBerry sued Typo Products LLC for patent
infringement, based on the design of a snap-on keyboard. Typo's
physical keyboard was designed to attach to an iPhone, in
order to mimic a BlackBerry-style QWERTY keyboard. The design was,
in BlackBerry's view, imitation that went beyond flattery and
into infringement of U.S. Design Patent No. D685,775 and U.S.
Patent No. 7,629,964 (Our original post
Can BlackBerry Patent a
Keyboard? gives more details).
A California granted a preliminary injunction (See:
Ok... so BlackBerry Can Patent a
Keyboard!) which took effect in April, 2014.
Typo, after the preliminary injunction took effect, flouted the
injunction by selling products, providing warranty replacements,
and promoting products which were subject to the court order. In a
judgement yesterday, the same California judge ordered Typo to pay
BlackBerry $860,600 in sanctions, plus attorneys' fees and
costs incurred in connection with Typo's contempt of
