Brendan McDermid/Reuters
- BlackBerry shares jumped as much as 20% Tuesday on news of a settlement with Facebook over a patent dispute.
- BlackBerry sued Facebook for patent infringement in 2018 alleging the company stole its innovative messaging technology.
- The terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed, but the news continues a streak of recent victories for BlackBerry.
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BlackBerry shares spiked as much as 20% Tuesday after the company announced it settled a patent infringement suit with Facebook. The terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed.
BlackBerry first targeted Facebook with a lawsuit back in 2018, filing a 117-page complaint accusing the social network of infringing on Blackberry’s innovative messaging technology.
Facebook responded by challenging BlackBerry’s assertions in court, finding some success early on.
U.S. District Judge George Wu of the Central District of California ruled four patents (1) (2) (3) (4) that targeted advertising and locating “action spots” were ineligible for patent protection in 2019.
The social media giant then landed another blow against BlackBerry when it launched its own retaliatory suit accusing the company of infringing on voice messaging technology patents.
Facebook had been able to keep BlackBerry away from any significant court victories or settlements until late 2020.
Then, in early December, it was reported that a Federal Circuit panel sounded as if it disagreed with U.S. District Judge George Wu on the validity of BlackBerry's patent claims, giving some hope to BlackBerry's patent infringement claims.
Now, news of the settlement has BlackBerry's stock roaring, continuing a run that has seen the Canada-based company's stock rise more than 134% in the last six months.
The bull run comes after an overhaul of BlackBerry's strategy.
Historically known as a hardware business, BlackBerry decided to forgo its legacy operations and opt for a push into enterprise software, internet of things (IoT), and cybersecurity, pivoting away from handsets as that business flagged.
In December, the company signed an agreement with Amazon to develop a software platform that allows automakers to read vehicle sensor data, improving cloud-connected vehicles' performance, and earlier this month, Blackberry announced it sold 90 patents to China's largest phone manufacturer, Huawei, which lifted shares.
BlackBerry traded at around $11.75 per share on Tuesday afternoon, boasting a market cap of $6.6 billion.