Facebook counter-sues Blackberry claiming infringement of messaging patents

Facebook returns fire at Blackberry with 118-page lawsuit

Facebook is counter-suing Blackberry, claiming that the mobile and security software company - once famous for its smartphones - has infringed copyrights relating to voice messaging, GPS and rendering of graphics, videos and sound.

It comes six months after Blackberry-brand phone maker TCL, at the behest of Blackberry, sued Facebook claiming that Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp infringe Blackberry patents developed for Blackberry Messenger (BBM).

In the 118-page lawsuit, uploaded to Document Cloud by TechCrunch, Facebook claims that Blackberry has, or is infringing, six Facebook patents.

Most of the patents that Facebook is brandishing were acquired from other companies.

Its first claim over "voice instant messaging" is based on intellectual property acquired by Facebook in 2012 that was originally developed by America Online (AOL), the defunct US internet service provider.

The second claim relates to personalised mobile multimedia services, and was originally developed by AT&T, while the third count relating to GPS services goes back even further, to US telecoms company BellSouth.

The fourth claim relates to a patent entitled "Method and apparatus for providing security to a computer system", which Facebook acquired from pre-demerger Hewlett-Packard.

The fifth was also acquired by Facebook from HP, but had originally been filed by networking hardware company 3Com. It is entitled "System and method for providing user-configured telephone service in a data network telephony system".

The sixth and final claim also comes courtesy of HP, and is entitled "Operation of trusted state in a computing platform".

Neither side has commented so far on the matter.

Tellingly, Facebook hasn't put a figure on its claims. Its action should, perhaps, be interpreted as part of the negotiating process between the two companies, as Facebook looks for ways to mitigate Blackberry's legal claims.

Blackberry, meanwhile, no longer designs and makes its own handsets, having outsourced the process to Chinese consumer electronics company TCL. It produces Blackberry-branded devices, with additional Blackberry messaging and security software, under licence.