Toshiba copies Fujitsu RakuRaku handset, gets sued by Fujitsu
By Will Park on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 1:38 PM PST In Announcements, DoCoMo, Financial/Corporate News, Fujitsu, Softbank, Toshiba
You mean companies can sue for copyright infringement on the design of a particular handset? That must have been news to Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF), seeing as how they blatantly copied a RakuRaku handset made by Fujitsu (OTCPK: FJTSY). You see, the Toshiba Kandan Keitai 821T is an almost carbon-copy of the Fujitsu Foma RakuRaku Phone III, prompting NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) and Fujitsu to get their lawsuit-on with Toshiba in the cross-hairs.
The suit states that Fujitsu has been designing the RakuRaku phones for senior citizens and that Toshiba has copied the RakuRaku Phone III’s button layout and interface, with a body that bears a striking resemblance to the original. DoCoMo apparently warned Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF) prior to the launch of the Tosh 821T, but Softbank decided to launch the 821T as a handset for the “junior population.” DoCoMo is seeking to have Softbank Mobile pull the Toshiba 821T off the market.
Something tells us that NTT DoCoMo and Fujitsu has a pretty strong case on their hands. This isn’t China…
[Via: GearFuse]
