RIM has been prohibited from using ‘BBX’ as the name of its new mobile OS at BlackBerry DevCon Asia after software company BASIS won a temporary restraining order. RIM has since changed the name of BBX to BlackBerry 10.
According to a US court filing found by Electronista, BASIS alleges that RIM has infringed on the name of its own BBX software, which provides tools to allow app developers to create software. It has used this name since 1985, compared to RIM’s announcement of its new OS in October.
It believes that RIM’s use of BBX is causing “confusion among US consumers” and has asked the Canadian mobile phone company to stop using it. BASIS said RIM refused its demands.
BASIS filed this instant temporary restraining order to stop RIM from using the BBX mark at its BlackBerry DevCon Asia conference in Singapore, which takes place today and tomorrow. It was granted, in spite of RIM’s protests that the use of BBX in an Asian conference would have little effect on US consumers.
However, the court disagreed, finding it “somewhat ironic” that RIM’s product aims to make it easier to distribute information globally. It also noted that RIM created a special channel online to publish information on the conference.
“It is naive to believe that further confusion of the BBX mark in the United States will be confined to only those attending the conference from this country,” reads the court filing.
“Despite the location of the upcoming conference in Singapore, it is not a stretch to state that RIM is attempting global publicity, much of which is aimed at BASIS’s core customer base – US software developers.”
The court agreed there was a “sufficient similarity” between the products to rule in BASIS’ favour.
While the temporary restraining order has only blocked RIM from using BBX at the conference in Singapore, it seems that RIM is not taking any more chances. The BlackBerry’s developer relations’ Twitter account announced that RIM has officially changed the name of BBX to BlackBerry 10.
