The Typo iPhone case has been blocked from sale by BlackBerry, according to a report from Reuters. The smartphone maker sued over the design of the case earlier this year, saying that it infringed on several of the company’s patents and its “iconic” keyboard design. The case is designed to add a BlackBerry-like keyboard to the iPhone 5 and 5s.
The injunction blocks the sale of the Typo, which is made by a company co-founded by TV personality Ryan Seacrest. A San Fransisco federal judge ruled that BlackBerry had established a “likelihood” that the Typo case infringed on its patents, while the case maker was unable to prove that it had not.
Seacrest invested $1 million into the company when he got tired of carrying both a BlackBerry for typing emails and an iPhone for everything else. Rather than just getting used to the Apple’s touchscreen keyboard, he decided to help fashion a case that would add a more familiar tactile keyboard to his iPhone.
The Typo is still available on the company’s web store for the time being, though it will likely be pulled soon to comply with the court ruling.
