RIM Already Having Legal Woes Over BBX Trademark

Poor RIM. They just can’t catch a break. Just two days after the official unveiling of their new BBX platform (the company’s last bullet, so to speak), they’re already having legal papers thrown in their face.

As it turns out, the BBX name (while rather fitting, given that it’s a merger of BlackBerryOS and QNX) wasn’t free for the taking. BASIS International, a software development company out of New Mexico, claims the trademark is theirs and that they’re willing to fight for it.

BASIS International’s claim to the trademark lays in a product called BBx (short for Business BASIC eXtended), which they’ve been building since 1985 as an interpreter for the Business BASIC programming language. Never heard of it? Don’t worry — you’re not the only one.

BASIS International isn’t filing their lawsuit just yet. They say they’ve given RIM until October 31st to respond to a cease and desist, essentially requesting that RIM stops using “BBX” immediately (read: they won’t.) And if RIM doesn’t comply? The company says they’ll “take the next logical legal step”.

Meanwhile, RIM tells Reuters that they haven’t received the complaint — and even once they do, they see no problem. “We do not believe the marks are confusing, particularly since our respective companies are in different lines of business”.