Blackberry Ends Patent Dispute over Smart Dialing Feature

Case Filed: Dec 9, 2013

Case Closed: Jun 17, 2014

Court: Western: District of Texas

Judge: Ed Kinkeade

Case Summary:

John L. Breckenridge, an inventor filed a case against Blackberry Corporation (Blackberry), a provider of wireless handheld devices and services accusing them of infringing a US patent related to a method for automatically dialing an area code.

Patent in Suit:

The patent involved in the suit is:

Patent Number	Title	Issue Date	Expiration Date[i]
US8374335	Method and system for an intelligent telephone prefix dialer	Feb 12, 2013	Sep 25, 2026

The ‘335 patent relates to a method and system for appending a caller initiated dial sequence with a caller defined default prefix, in order to form a complete telephone number dialed over a telephone network to connect to a called party and for selectively activating the method and system.

As in Complaint:

Breckenridge alleged that Blackberry directly and indirectly infringed the ‘335 patent without permission or authority. The suit concerned Blackberry’s infringement of including smart dialing feature in mobile phones, that are specifically designed to perform a dialing method for completing calls using a default area code to connect to a called party over a phone network as claimed in the '335 patent.

Smart dialing is a built-in capability that can be configured to complete calls using a default area code set by the user and this feature is used in Blackberry’s products such as Blackberry Z10, Q10, Curve and Blackberry Bold 9700, the complaint said.

Plaintiff also added that Blackberry’s foregoing acts of infringement were willful and deliberate. The complaint mentioned that plaintiff was irreparably and monetarily harmed and requested Court to enjoin the infringement activities.

District Court Judgment:

Plaintiff John L. Breckenridge and defendant Blackberry filed joint stipulation for dismissal Court ordered dismissal with prejudice of all claims and counterclaims asserted by the other party with all costs and fees incurred by the respective parties. Court also retained the jurisdiction to enforce the parties on the license and settlement agreement.

See 3:13-cv-04787 for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts.

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[i] Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.