BlackBerry Accused of Extorting Companies Through Patent Claims

Mobile security software maker MobileIron Inc. sued BlackBerry in San Francisco federal court for allegedly infringing its patents and attempting to extort it and other companies with infringement assertions and license demands.

The Monday complaint said that in moving its focus from cellphones to cybersecurity, BlackBerry has extracted “extortionate license fees as it tries to rebuild its company on the backs of other companies’ technologies.”

MobileIron said BlackBerry demands that companies license patents it knows are “statutorily surrendered” and asserts “infringement theories through unlawful notice letters that would not pass muster in any court of law.” The complaint accused BlackBerry ...