The Canadian firm runs into trouble
over its messaging applicationResearch In Motion, still smarting over
having to change the name of its yet-
to-come operating system, faces a
similar trademark challenge to its
popular instant-messaging service
BlackBerry Messenger.
The service, which allows BlackBerry
users to send each other text and
multimedia files and see when they
are delivered and read, is widely
known and even promoted by RIM via
the shorthand BBM. That has proven an
encumbrance to BBM Canada, which
measures radio and television
audience data and expects its day in a
Federal Court against RIM by February.
The company's chief executive, Jim
MacLeod, said he wants RIM to stop
advertising the BBM moniker but
would also consider changing his much
smaller company's name, for a price.
"We have to be practical, they operate
worldwide, we don't. But we're not
prepared to just walk from our name,"
MacLeod said.
RIM seems equally determined to keep
using the BBM name and not to pay
MacLeod's company anything. "We
believe that BBM Canada is attempting
to obtain trademark protection for the
BBM acronym that is well beyond the
narrow range of the services it
provides and well beyond the scope of
rights afforded by Canadian trademark
law," it said in an emailed statement.
RIM has launched its BBM Music song-
sharing service in recent months, and
heavily promoted third-party apps that
tie into its instant messaging product,
which boasts some 50 million active
users. BBM Canada was established in
1944 as the Bureau of Broadcast
Measurement. It changed its name to
BBM in the 1960s and to BBM Canada in
the early 1990s, MacLeod said. The
company, owned by a collection of
broadcasters and advertisers, has
annual revenue of around $50 million.
RIM's sales were more than $5 billion
last quarter.
"I'm sure to a really big company this
looks like relatively small numbers, but
to us it's a big deal," said MacLeod. BBM
Canada employs around 650 people,
compared with RIM's roughly 17,000.
Earlier this month RIM dumped the
"BBX" name for its new operating
system after being served with an
injunction in a trademark fight with
U.S.-based Basis International. RIM has
renamed the platform as BlackBerry
10. Industry Canada denied RIM's 2009
request to register the BBM trademark,
saying the name was already in use,
but has granted RIM until January 5 to
respond. BBM Canada launched its legal
action late last year.
MacLeod said his company contacted
RIM in July, soon after RIM launched a
large-scale BBM advertising campaign.
In response to BBM Canada's cease-and-
desist letter RIM said there couldn't
possibly be any confusion between the
two names - a similar tactic was later
used in the BBX spat.
RIM repeated that line of argument in
Friday's statement. "The services
associated with RIM's BBM offering
clearly do not overlap with BBM
Canada's services and the two marks
are therefore eligible to co-exist under
Canadian trademark law. The two
companies are in different industries
and have never been competitors in
any area."
MacLeod sought a meeting to discuss
the issue with RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie
several months ago, but said he has
received no response. McLeod pointed
out that RIM had even taken legal
action of its own against software
startup Kik Interactive over its instant
messaging service that includes claims
of trademark infringement. "It's a
trademark they don't even own, it's
ours," MacLeod said.
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