U.S. software company sues RIM over 'BBX'

CALIFORNIA, USA: New Mexico firm Basis International Ltd filed a motion against Research In Motion to stop the BlackBerry maker from using Basis' trademark, BBX.

In October, the Abuquerque-based Basis had threatened to take legal action against RIM unless it stops calling its operating system BBX.

"Basis built the BBX brand over the course of a quarter of a century to become synonymous with the term 'operating system independent,'" Chief Executive Nico Spence said in a statement.

"RIM's unilateral seizure of that brand to use as a name for their new BlackBerry operating system is destroying that association."

The firm has product licenses installed worldwide with the "BBX" prefix that run on Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems, among others.

RIM was not immediately available for comment.

RIM shares, which have lost over 67 per cent of their value in one year, closed at C$19.69 on Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange while closing at $19.21 on Nasdaq.