#6- Copyright and Fair Use

When something is created whether it be an artistic work like a painting or a film it is your creation and deserves protection from others who might to use it without your permission. In order for the works to be protected they are copyrighted which then makes the idea itself your property. Copyright does protect artistic works but it also extends to things like architecture and the tech industry.

BlackBerry has brought a lawsuit on Facebook for supposed copyright infringement, where they claim that Facebook has "created mobile messaging applications that co-opt BlackBerry's innovations". More specifically they allege that Facebook uses messaging security, messaging notification and other intellectual property that was created by BlackBerry. 

While these lawsuits might seem like a waste of time considering the amount of power Facebook holds in the messaging world, BlackBerry has actually one cases with similar claims. In 2017 they sued Nokia, sued Qualcomm and were awarded $800 million, and in 2016 sued Avaya.

This is unusual because of the speed to which the silicone valley tech industry moves ideas are frequently taken from each other. Facebook has blatantly copied from others like it competitor Snapchat's Facial recognition and it's Stories feature. Facebook also uses the FourSquare check-in in its applications. 

With all of these events and with Blackberry's exit from the mobile device market. It seems that BlackBerry has started to use it's copyright lawsuit's as a business model. 

Link to the story about BlackBerry's lawsuit's. 
Link to the story about Facebook's copying competitors.
Link to another story about BlackBerry lawsuit's. 
Link to some copyright protections.