RIM sues LG over Chocolate, Shine brand
'Black Label' too close to 'BlackBerry', firm claims
Research in Motion (RIM) has begun legal proceedings in the US against LG, claiming the South Korean company's Black Label brand is too close to its own BlackBerry trademark, Bloomberg reports.
RIM - colloquially called 'Lawsuits in Motion' - has form. In December 2006, it sent Samsung a similar lawsuit, this time complaining about the phone maker's BlackJack handset brand which, again, it alleged would confuse consumers out to buy a BlackBerry.
The two companies settled their differences in February 2007. Samsung agreed to drop the BlackJack name and not attempt to register it as a trademark.
Of course, Samsung's handset actually looked a bit like a BlackBerry: big screen, black casing, Qwerty microkeyboard. No one can say the same of LG's Black Label handsets, the popular Chocolate and the newer Shine.
In fact, arguably few consumers know these phones by the broader brandname - to most folk they are simply the Chocolate and the Shine.
RIM recently settled a lawsuit brought against it for alleged patent infringement.
COMMENTS
Grocery Store
So I was in the grocery store the other day and I noticed that blackberries were on sale! Man those things are cheap! I'm still trying to figure out how to send an email from the tiny little thing.
Farmers should sue RIM!
RIM?
Not owned by big Mo Fayed are they? He was a legend in legal circles for a while, as he tried to sue every company using the word "Ritz" - until Nabisco delicately told him where to go!!
Bl00dy pedantic RIMjobbers
What the hell are RIM playing at?
Black Label (two words, commonly used on many products) is not remotely similar to BlackBerry. I hope LG tell RIM just what they can do with their legal papers.
Black Label
In that case, whoever owns the Johnnie Walker whisky brand should be up for a big payout from RIM. Stressed execs must be finding it very annoying accidently purchasing a cheesy, overpriced, Tamagochi* / phone when they want a shot of the old nerve-pacifier.....
* Tamagochi: Another weird craze for having an electronic gadget that continually pesters you for attention.
