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Originally Posted by DallasFlier
To summarize, I have a pretty strong philosophical opinion that RIM should not be allowed to, in essence, trademark the word "Black" with respect to any phones or PDA's. That's what a victory for RIM would amount to here. I simply don't believe that's right and I agree with the previous poster - I hope RIM loses!
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A lot of people share your view and I think that makes my prior comment valid that there are no winners in this action. Even if they prevail, RIM is perceived as the bully, right or wrong. Its hard to keep moral indignation out of public bloodletting and rightly so. There are always two courts to consider, one is the court of public opinion, and reading this thread, it would appear that RIM is losing in that one. In the NTP vs RIM affair, it was just the opposite, NTP was viewed as the bad guy and RIM was being innocently persecuted. RIM got spanked pretty good but won in the sympathy vote.
We have to have laws for protection of intellectual property and in order to enjoy the benefits of holding a trademark you are required to aggressivly defend it from encroachment, no matter how tenuous the thread. If Blackjack slides by why not Blue berry and then on and on until the Black Pearl, or the "Crackberry?" What happens next is the XYZ Inc. Blackberry. Where is the line drawn? I'm not sure that in any case anyone really knows. We do know that each side as an opinion on it. I do and I think Samsung is liable.
As I put it earlier in this thead, Samsung didn't come up with the name in a vacuum. They knew what they were doing and what the consequences may be. There big, not stupid and a pretty sophisticated marketing company. They must have felt the risk was worth the reward.
If the details of what are to transpire come out I think you'll see many of the points you posted come out as arguments. Stay tuned. I believe I read that RIM has sought injunctive relief so maybe this will heat up quickly and fast track in the system. I hope so. I get a kick out of watching these kind of things play out.
A bit off topic but for many years RIM enjoyed their niche position in the market, virtually no competition. They are now incorporating a consumer slant in their business model, they're successful, growing and given the fact that the Blackberry is the king of mobile email, this Blackjack thing is only the first of many to come. Hell, even Bill Gates is going to put a shot across their bow with MS push email services. Do we think that Jack Bauer will have a BB on his hip 2 years from now? I dunno, but whatever Jack totes, I gotta take a serious look at. If I don't, he'll kill me.