After licensing deals with Cisco and others, Blackberry enters new phase of patent monetization, sues business communications company Avaya
Context & Ripple Effects
BlackBerry's suit against Avaya is the enforcement half of a pivot it has been telegraphing since 2015, when it floated a plan to license features like its keyboard and BlackBerry Hub to other device makers. The Cisco licensing agreements show the voluntary route works; Avaya shows what happens to companies that don't sign.
The move also fits a broader cash-generation strategy: months later BlackBerry won a preliminary [[a:815M Qualcomm arbitration award|a:918058|$815M Qualcomm arbitration award]], and the playbook kept expanding — by 2017 it had settled litigation via a licensing deal with Android handset maker BLU, and by 2019 it was suing Twitter, Facebook, and Snap over messaging patents.
First-order effects
- Avaya now faces patent litigation costs and the choice between settling on BlackBerry's terms or defending in court, while BlackBerry converts an unsigned communications vendor into either a licensee or a damages claim.
Second-order effects
- Other business-communications vendors without Cisco-style licenses become the next negotiation targets, since a filed suit against Avaya gives BlackBerry precedent and leverage to close deals without filing again.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — licensing deals where possible, suits where not — BlackBerry completes its shift from device maker to royalties business, with its messaging patents enforced across handsets, enterprise communications, and eventually social platforms.
The trend: Hardware-originated companies with deep patent portfolios are turning litigation-backed licensing into a core revenue line rather than a defensive afterthought.