Based on the December 2017 statistics, there are now more than 2 billion users on Facebook, making it one of the biggest social media platforms out there. The said social media site may be currently at its peak, but it doesn’t seem to be doing well with other things.

It has been involved with a lot of controversies such as the fake news incident with Russia probe, wherein Russia allegedly took part in the presidential campaign in favor of Trump back in 2016, which is still in going as of this moment. Then the city of Seattle filed a lawsuit against Facebook for violating the ad transparency law after being involved in the local mayoral elections.

According to the local government of Seattle, Facebook, as well as Google, were given a deadline to submit all the necessary documents and data regarding the issue but Facebook has failed to do so. Unfortunately, despite all of those controversies, Facebook is facing yet another complaint but this time it will be from another tech company which is Blackberry, continue reading if you want to find out more about it.

Blackberry’s original BBM feature on smartphones back in mid-2000

Blackberry VS Facebook

Before the advanced smartphone era, Blackberry smartphones were at its peak, but then during the rise of social networking sites that are making its way to advanced smartphones, they didn’t get to catch up.

However, Blackberry said that they are actually the ones who created and designed some messaging features, that can now all be found in the apps of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, this then led to Blackberry Ltd. filing a patent infringement case against Facebook Inc.

According to the spokesperson of Blackberry, their company have some strong claims over those features and could prove that Facebook has indeed infringed their intellectual property. The spokesperson also said in the email how they are still obligated to their investors and shareholders that basically pushed them to make legal actions.

This simply means that Blackberry is actually demanding Facebook to stop providing for their messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, Workplace Chat, Instagram DMs, and WhatsApp Messenger. According to the complaint, Blackberry became well known for its BBM or Blackberry Messenger, which means that Facebook, as well as its subsidiaries, does not have the right to use and create mobile messaging applications that are purely based and related to Blackberry’s innovative designs and features.

Facebook’s subsidiaries, Instagram and WhatsApp also has a messenger feature

During the mid-2000, Blackberry’s BBM became one of the famous phone features in the entire world which led to millions of people having their owns. Unfortunately, when Apple and other tech companies took over the smartphone market, Blackberry couldn’t catch up that led to an opening for social media platforms to take advantage of it. Blackberry even had to stop making their own phones and focused on their security software instead.

Facebook Inc., on the other hand, has not yet released a statement regarding the lawsuit filed against them by Blackberry. However, in the past, Facebook Inc. executives have mentioned that there are times in the tech industry that it is actually significant to copy. Facebook may be the most successful social network today but they are not the first ones in the industry.

Just like how Gmail of Google wasn’t the very first ones to introduce email to the tech industry. Then again, experts believe that Facebook should have credited Blackberry for their messaging apps since it was clearly based off BBM, just like how they credited Snapchat on being the first ones to create “stories”, which is basically a feature wherein it allows users to post short videos and it would eventually disappear.

Facebook’s version of Messenger as an app

What is Patent Infringement?

Blackberry reportedly sued Facebook for patent infringement, but not everyone could actually understand what that means. Patent infringement actually occurs when someone, most of the time it is companies, who uses and sells someone’s else’s idea or invention without giving credit or permission.

These are public documents which makes it easy for any data to be accessed since they most likely to be available. In the Blackberry VS Facebook case, if Blackberry has proven that Facebook has indeed copied their BBM feature and make their own based off of it, the court will most likely to ask Facebook to take down these apps. Blackberry could also receive some monetary damage since this was considered to be unauthorized.