RIM, Samsung settle BlackJack brand brawl

Research in Motion and Samsung have come to an arrangement over the South Korean giant's use of the name BlackJack, a brand a tad too close to 'BlackBerry', the push email pioneer had alleged in a lawsuit filed late last year.

The financial terms behind the deal were not disclosed. RIM said Samsung has agreed to withdraw an attempt to register BlackJack as a trademark and will face limits on how it can use the name but must take "reasonable measures to avoid confusion in the marketplace", according to a RIM statement. Presumably, though, Samsung can continue to call its BlackBerry-like i600 - as it's known over here - BlackJack.

Or maybe it's Blackjack now, since the RIM statement notably drops Samsung's mid-word capitalisation.

RIM took its beef to the US District Court for Central California early in December 2006, alleging unfair competition and trademark dilution.