RIM has been sued over the name "BBX," the name of their upcoming smartphone operating system based on QNX software.
Basis International, a New Mexican company, owns the trademark for BBX, and has owned it since 1995.
As the company explains, "Basis' BBX is a set of tools and languages that help developers write programs for multiple operating systems. Basis has been using the BBX name since as early as 1985 and got a trademark in 1995."
There is one small discrepancy, and that is the fact that Basis uses the term "BBx" with a lower case x. BBx stands for Business BASIC eXtended.
Reads the complaint (via Ars):
Basis is looking for an injunction on RIM using the name, court fees and some monetary damages.
As the company explains, "Basis' BBX is a set of tools and languages that help developers write programs for multiple operating systems. Basis has been using the BBX name since as early as 1985 and got a trademark in 1995."
There is one small discrepancy, and that is the fact that Basis uses the term "BBx" with a lower case x. BBx stands for Business BASIC eXtended.
Reads the complaint (via Ars):
The parties' respective BBX products are clearly related. By way of example only, a software application created with BASIS' BBX to run on the Android or iOS mobile devices will also run on RIM's BBX for BlackBerry products.
[Our customers and prospective customers are] likely to wrongly believe that software applications created using BASIS' development tools are only compatible with RIM's BBX operating system, thus impairing and destroying BASIS' reputation for providing software development tools for cross-platform development.
Basis is looking for an injunction on RIM using the name, court fees and some monetary damages.
