BlackBerry sues Snap for allegedly infringing on six messaging patents, two of which are also in the suit it filed against Facebook last month
BlackBerry is suing Snap Inc. for patent infringement. — Does that sound familiar? Well, you may be thinking of that time last month …
Context & Ripple Effects
The Snap suit is the second filing in BlackBerry's messaging-patent campaign within a month, reusing two of the six patents from the Facebook lawsuit it filed in March 2018. The playbook is familiar: BlackBerry has monetized its patent portfolio before, from the Typo 2 keyboard claim against Ryan Seacrest's accessory to the separate infringement claims it kept pursuing even while losing $137M to Nokia in a contract dispute.
First-order effects
- Snap now faces the same injunctive-relief and damages exposure BlackBerry sought from Facebook, with two overlapping patents meaning a ruling against BlackBerry in one case could weaken the other.
Second-order effects
- Facebook's September countersuit over voice-messaging patents shows how these cases escalate into mutual infringement claims, and Snap's response will likely follow that template rather than settle quickly.
Third-order effects
- If BlackBerry sustains a multi-defendant licensing strategy across Facebook, Snap, and later Twitter — where it again alleged six messaging patents — legacy handset makers' patent portfolios become a standing revenue line aimed at social platforms' core messaging features.
The trend: BlackBerry is converting its retired handset-era messaging patents into a serial litigation program targeting social platforms one defendant at a time.