Eatoni has also sued T-Mobile, which distributes the devices,
according to reports.
According to the patent abstract, US patent number 6,885,317
covers:
“methods for the selection of ambiguous
codes from the classes of strongly-touch-typable ambiguous codes
and substantially optimal ambiguous codes for touch-typable devices
such as computers, telephones, pagers, personal digital assistants,
smart cards, television set-top devices and other information
appliances, given design constraints such as the size, shape, and
computational capacity of the device, the typical uses of the
device, and conventional constraints such as respect of alphabetic
ordering or Qwerty ordering.”
The 7100 series includes SureType keyboard technology,
integrating a traditional phone keypad and a Qwerty-style keyboard.
The device also has “intuitive” software, which allows it to learn
as you type.
This combination, according to Eatoni, is in breach of its
patent.
It has asked the District Court for the Northern District of
Texas to grant an injunction against the manufacture and sale of
the devices.
Meanwhile, RIM is still battling holding company NTP Inc, over
claims that certain RIM products were infringing on patents
covering a method of using radio frequency wireless communications
in e-mail systems.
