BlackBerry deals a fatal blow to the copycat Typo 2 keyboard, ensures it’ll never return

By Williams Pelegrin Updated June 1, 2015

Say your farewells, QWERTY fans, the Typo 2 iPhone case, which so closely mimics BlackBerry’s famous phone keyboard that it sparked two lawsuits, is finally dead. BlackBerry triumphantly announced that it has reached a settlement with Typo Products. The deal includes a promise from Typo to never make another QWERTY iPhone case again.

Updated on 06-01-2015 by Malarie Gokey: Added news that the Typo 2 keyboard case for the iPhone is officially dead. BlackBerry and Typo products reached a settlement.

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“Typo Products LLC, Typo Innovations LLC, Show Media LLC, Hallier Investments LLC, and Laurence Hallier have agreed to permanently discontinue selling anywhere in the world keyboards for smartphones and mobile devices with a screen size of less than 7.9 inches,” BlackBerry said in a press release. The amount of the settlement is unknown.

From the start, the QWERTY iPhone case was contentious. Typo Products found itself in trouble with its first Typo keyboard, which BlackBerry alleged was awfully similar to its own keyboards. Regardless of a court injunction, Typo Products released the Typo 2, which led BlackBerry to — you guessed it — sue the company yet again, according to a Recode report from February.

According to the lawsuit, Typo Products heavily used BlackBerry’s keyboard designs and patents when making its second keyboard case for the iPhone. “Just as they did with the Typo Keyboard, defendants have again copied numerous proprietary BlackBerry designs and patents in the Typo 2 keyboard,” claimed BlackBerry.

Earlier in February, Typo Products was ordered to pay BlackBerry a hefty $860,000 after a California court discovered Typo Products violated a court-ordered preliminary injunction.

Founded by celebrity Ryan Seacrest and CEO Laurence Hallier, Typo Products announced its Typo keyboard accessory for the iPhone in the tail end of 2013. The company was quickly ordered to halt sales of the Typo once BlackBerry spotted the case.

However, what’s perhaps the most shocking aspect of the case, is that all of this hullabaloo is for a keyboard that we found pretty subpar in our review. We’ve also got the second version in the office, and it’s not much better. You can read the full lawsuit below.

Williams Pelegrin

Former Contributor

Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…

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