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BlackBerry and Typo reach settlement over ‘copycat’ keyboards

BlackBerry has reached a settlement to prevent the Typo company selling lookalike keyboard cases for iPhone.

A lawsuit filed over a year ago has ended with Typo, backed by U.S. celeb Ryan Seacreast, agreeing to no longer sell the BlackBerry-like keyboards for any smartphones.

The settlement (via Engadget) requires Typo to “permanently discontinue” selling its clip-on keyboards, which turn touchscreen phones into those with traditional physical keyboards, for all devices smaller than 7.9-inches.

Effectively, the settlement means Typo can continue selling its wares for the iPad mini range and the full-size 9.7-inch iPads, but nothing that could reasonably be classed as a smartphone keyboard case.

The keyboards were designed for those business users who wished to trade in their old BlackBerry smartphones for iPhones, without sacrificing their cherished physical keyboard.

However, naturally, BlackBerry wasn’t too pleased with this development, as is desperately clings onto its remaining market share.

The Waterloo-based mobile company says other terms of the settlement are confidential, but it does appear that Typo will continue to create keyboards for the iPad.

In a 2015 review the Typo 2 for iPhone 6 earned a 6/10 score from TrustedReviews for its pretty design, but fell down due to its drain on battery life, covering up the Touch ID button and its prohibitive price tag. Maybe it won’t be too missed after all?

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