Remember BlackBerry? Well They Just Hits Brother With a Printer Lawsuit Out of Nowhere!

Irish patent licensing firms Malikie Innovations Ltd. and Key Patent Innovations Ltd. have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Brother Industries Ltd. (see below) and its U.S. subsidiary in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, alleging that Brother’s printers and multifunction devices unlawfully use key technologies originally developed by BlackBerry Limited. The complaint centers on four patents covering secure wireless communications, data encoding, and touchscreen interfaces—core features in modern connected printers—and claims Brother continued using the technology despite prior awareness and licensing opportunities, raising allegations of willful infringement. By filing in Tennessee, where Brother has significant manufacturing operations, the plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages, enhanced penalties, and a permanent injunction that could force product redesigns or disrupt sales, highlighting growing legal pressure on printer OEMs as patent holders increasingly target embedded software and connectivity features.