RIM sues LG over phone names, "black" and "berry" apparently not okay
RIM may be better known as a defendant than as a plaintiff in the courtroom, but Waterloo's finest have actually done a brisk business filing lawsuits over the past couple years. In late '06, RIM filed a complaint …
Context & Ripple Effects
RIM spent early 2006 as the industry's most famous litigation target, fighting for BlackBerry's survival in the RIM/NTP patent war examined by the Toronto Globe and Mail. The Engadget piece notes the company has quietly built a record as a plaintiff since then, and the LG complaint extends that pattern from patents into brand territory.
The target is no accident: LG has spent 2007 building a consumer identity around evocative product names — a second-generation Chocolate phone in July, and the KU990 Viewty unveiled in August under a confirmed agreement with Google as a YouTube-focused video-upload handset. RIM's claim that 'black' and 'berry' combinations infringe BlackBerry branding strikes directly at that naming playbook.
First-order effects
- LG faces a direct choice on any current or planned handset whose name combines color-plus-object wording in RIM's claimed space: rebrand, license, or litigate — each carrying cost and delay for a lineup it is actively marketing in Europe.
- RIM converts its most valuable asset, the BlackBerry mark, from a passive shield into an active revenue-and-deterrence tool at the moment its brand is stretching beyond enterprise buyers.
Second-order effects
- Every handset maker using playful consumer names — colors, foods, fruits — now has to clear branding against RIM's claims, raising the legal screening burden across LG's competitors' marketing pipelines.
- A win would let RIM price trademark licensing into the category, turning naming clearance from a formality into a potential toll on rival launches.
Third-order effects
- If handset branding keeps migrating toward lifestyle names as phones become consumer fashion objects, trademark portfolios join patents as core competitive infrastructure — and courtroom enforcement becomes a routine launch-timing lever rather than an exceptional event.
The trend: As mobile phones shift from enterprise tools to consumer lifestyle brands, device makers are increasingly enforcing trademarks offensively, making brand litigation a standard competitive weapon alongside patents.