Submitted by: kirkland on Thursday December 14th, 2006 at 05:21 PM EST

Research In Motion is suing hand-held device maker Samsung, claiming the company is causing confusion and diminishing the brand power of RIM's BlackBerry by selling a smartphone known as the BlackJack.

In a suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Waterlook, Ontario-based RIM asked a judge to issue an injunction ordering Samsung to stop selling its BlackJack and Black Carbon lines of phones.

The suit also claims that the rival is guilty of "false designation of origin," or of misleading consumers by suggesting the devices are somehow related to the BlackBerry.

The BlackJack phones have similar functionality to the BlackBerry hand-held, which is used by some 6 million people in the U.S. to retrieve and send e-mail when they are away from their computers. The BlackJack device uses Microsoft Mobile 5.0 operating software to enable users to retrieve e-mail and do other work while on the road.

» Full story @ Tech News World