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You heard that right - BlackBerry is going to have competition from a company called Redberry

Research in Motion (RIM) has confirmed it is ready to make BlackBerry available to users in China - but it will have some competition.  China Unicom, a company that wishes to give Chinese consumers an alternative option to RIM's BlackBerry, has launched the RedBerry wireless e-mail service.  Yes, you read that right -- RedBerry.  Both China Unicom and RIM are trying to take advantage of a large market of users that have a need for wireless communications in China.  RIM has worked for several years and has now made an arrangement with China Mobile.  BusinessWeek reports:

The technology behind the Redberry service comes from a Beijing-based outfit called Facio Software, which sells a software product it calls Uni Pushmail. The company didn't immediately respond to requests for comment, but its chief executive is Tony Chan, a Microsoft alum whose career includes stints at Rhapsody Software, which was acquired by Brocade in 2003 and Vitalsigns, which was later acquired by Lucent Technologies.
 
Along with being a domestic favorite, Redberry is also going to be slightly cheaper than BlackBerry in China.

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Only in China...
By Furen on 4/14/2006 12:12:05 AM , Rating: 1
Only in China will you ever see such blatant violation of a trademark... this is not like Intel trying to keep everyone from using the word "inside", it's the profiting of a company (state-owned, most likely) by using a straight ripoff of someone else' product. I hope it fails miserably but I doubt it will.




RE: Only in China...
By Ard on 4/14/2006 1:18:45 AM , Rating: 2
I was wondering if anyone else would pick up on that. I'm not quite sure about international trademark laws, but under the Lanham Act, RIM would have a very good case for trademark infringement on a consumer confusion theory.

As far as Intel goes, they can't prevent anyone from using the word "inside" because it's a generic term. They can, however, prevent ppl from using "Intel Inside", which is exactly what they have trademarked.


RE: Only in China...
By AaronAxvig on 4/14/2006 1:54:21 AM , Rating: 2
Relating this to the Blackberry/Redberry thing, AMD can't run around saying "AMD Inside" or Intel would sue the shit out of them. Blackberry should be able to (and would in the USA I'm guessing) sue Redberry for using their branding to turn a profit.


RE: Only in China...
By Ard on 4/14/2006 2:15:02 AM , Rating: 2
You're correct. Because Intel has used the phrase "Intel Inside" exclusively for so long, another company, AMD for example, can't simply exchange Intel for their company name. It'd be hard to argue that that wouldn't be confusing for consumers, who almost certainly associate "Inside" with Intel when talking about PCs. That being said, if another company outside the semiconductor/PC industry wanted to use the phrase, they'd most likely be fine since they're in a completely different market

But yes, you are correct, it's obvious that they're attempting to trade on RIM's good will. I mean come on, all they did was change the first word. They could've named this product anything but they chose RedBerry. RIM would definitely sue this company if they were in the US and, I can say with 95% certaintym would win. And depending on international trademark laws and whether "BlackBerry" is a registered trademark in China, they might just sue them there.


RE: Only in China...
By Hypernova on 4/14/2006 8:19:58 AM , Rating: 3
I don't see how they can win. Remember that China is run by a bunch of people who aren't exactly 'decent'.

Besides, they supported redberry because it's compatiable with their big brother policies.


RE: Only in China...
By Ard on 4/14/2006 9:14:21 AM , Rating: 2
You mean you don't know how RIM could win in China? Again, it would depend on whether China has semi-decent trademark laws and whether or not they're apart of international trademark law. I would think that the answer to both questions is yes because even Chinese companies are going to need trademark protection and I don't think Intel, for example, would want to jump into that market if they knew their trademarks wouldn't be protected.


RE: Only in China...
By Le Québécois on 4/14/2006 9:35:58 AM , Rating: 2
Copyright laws don't work as they do with the rest of the world.

Just Take movie for exemple. At the begining of each DVD you have the boring red and white text that say something like " under the copy right law of .... you can be sued ...." Well China isn't a member of the country who signed that thing so legaly you can copy movie all you want in china..which they do of course.

I have been in china for only 3 weeks and it's almost unbelivable how many "copyright infringement" product I've seen there in those little 3 weeks.


RE: Only in China...
By Le Québécois on 4/14/2006 9:37:23 AM , Rating: 2
That would be countries not country, sorry for the typo.



RedBerry will be significantly cheaper
By bhigh on 4/13/2006 7:47:29 PM , Rating: 3
From other articles (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/rim-sees-red...) around the net, the cost difference is significant.

The RB will be US$1/month for 5MB of data, while the BB is US$64/mo for unlimited data.




RE: RedBerry will be significantly cheaper
By doughtree on 4/14/2006 12:29:32 AM , Rating: 2
$64 for email? who on earth buys this shit


By Lifted on 4/14/2006 12:34:47 AM , Rating: 2
I only pay $40 or so for ulimited data through Verizon for the 10 we have at my organization. That's without a calling plan.


Reminds me of...
By ChuDog on 4/13/2006 7:27:45 PM , Rating: 3
Reminds me of that movie Coming to America. McDonald's had competition from McDowell's in the Queens NY. LOL




RE: Reminds me of...
By NFS4 on 4/13/2006 8:39:14 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Look... me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's... I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds.


Appropriately named.
By Mr Perfect on 4/14/2006 1:02:24 PM , Rating: 2
Very fitting that it will be called "Red", but I suspect they did that on purpose. :D




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