NEW YORK -- BlackBerry said Monday that it reached a patent infringement settlement with Typo, a maker of iPhone keyboards co-founded by "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest. The Canadian smartphone maker had accused Typo of ripping off its design.
Under the agreement, Typo Products LLC will be banned from selling keyboards for mobile devices with a screen size that's less than 7.9 inches, essentially knocking them out of the iPhone market. The largest model of the Apple phone has a height of 6.22 inches.
BlackBerry said Typo will be able to sell keyboards for devices with screens that are larger than 7.9 inches. Typo's website currently sells $189 attachable keyboards for the iPad.
BlackBerry Ltd., based in Canada, first filed the lawsuit against Typo last year, saying that the startup copied its smartphone's keyboard. Typo's keyboard was a case that snapped on to the iPhone and had a physical keyboard.
Typo, which is based in Las Vegas, could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
