OTTAWA — Less than two months after Research In Motionannounced that its new operating system to revive the BlackBerry brand would be called BBX, the company has changed its mind. Now, it will be called BlackBerry 10.
The late change followed the granting of a restraining order on Tuesday by a federal court in New Mexico to a small Albuquerque-based software maker, Basis International, that has long used the name BBx.
In a statement on Wednesday about the name change, RIM did not address the trademark infringement action by Basis International. “The BlackBerry 10 name reflects the significance of the new platform and will leverage the global strength of the BlackBerry brand while also aligning perfectly with RIM’s device branding,” the statement said. RIM did not respond to questions about whether it has abandoned the BBX name.
The sudden rebranding is the latest in a series of setbacks, both small and large, for RIM recently, including having to restate its financial guidance for the current quarter because of steep discounts on its tablet computer as well as the firing of two executives whose drunken outbursts forced the return of a Toronto-to-Beijing flight and led to criminal charges. The new financial guidance further depressed RIM’s already battered stock price.
The new phone operating system was developed by QNX Software Systems, a company based in Ottawa that RIM acquired last year. The BBX name appeared to be an attempt to meld the BlackBerry and QNX names.
Basis has been using both the BBX and BBx names for several years on products that allow developers to create apps that can work on any operating system.
“Even the more cursory search for the BBX trademark would have shown that we hold it,” said Nico Spence, the chief executive of Basis.
After RIM announced the BBX name at a developers’ conference in San Francisco in October, Basis sought a permanent injunction under trademark laws. It also asked for the temporary order, which is valid for only 14 days, to prevent RIM from using the name at its developers conference in Singapore this week.
Mr. Spence said Wednesday that he had not heard anything from RIM or its lawyers about the company’s new brand. He said that Basis would continue to seek a permanent injunction as well as damages from RIM. “Their announcement is certainly encouraging in that it looks like they are abandoning it, but it may only be temporary,” he said.
The new name follows RIM’s traditional practice of naming operating systems using numbers. The operating system it will replace is called BlackBerry 7.
Source www.nytimes.com
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