After filing a similar patent infringement offense against Facebook and its subsidiaries, WhatsApp and Instagram, last month, Blackberry is filing for patent infringement against Snapchat, the recent messaging rage. The 71-page complaint is thick with bitterness regarding the illegal use of BBM’s technology. First reported by Bloomberg, Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, has been accused of infringing map improvements for mobile devices, advertising techniques, and UI improvements for mobile devices. The provision of Snap Maps and the display count of unread messages on a notification dot have also been marked as infringement.
The patent infringement lawsuit in both the cases hinges on two patents, ‘634 and ‘713, the prior referring to the display count notification dot, the latter disclosing time data in messaging conversations. BBM had once been a pioneer in messaging services, and all of these offenses are based on the innovative services it once offered, which are now hijacked by these platforms, and has resulted in clients shifting towards these instead of the original patent holder.