Research in Motion Sues Kik Messenger App

Research in Motion has decided to stop “playing nice”, and has filed a statement of claim against Kik Interactive Inc for patent infringement. Here’s the Statement of Claims document pdf, in case you want to read it. RIM recently pulled Kik from BlackBerry App World for the following reasons-

RIM became aware of a number of issues and customer concerns regarding the Kik app and service. Following discussions with Kik, the app was removed from BlackBerry App World on November 12. Upon further investigation, RIM concluded that Kik had breached contractual obligations. Based on the broad scope and seriousness of the issues and concerns, RIM terminated its agreements with Kik and withdrew RIM’s support for Kik’s service.

This is very sad. Kik had so much potential. In case you don’t know what Kik is, it’s a cross-platform instant messaging application much like BlackBerry Messenger. In other words, it’s BBM for BlackBerry, iPhone, and Android. It’s clear to see the reasons behind this, though- RIM feels threatened since BBM is one of the only reasons people own BlackBerries in the first place.

Kik’s blog post on the matter states the following-

RIM sued us yesterday. A courier came to drop off a package. I opened up the letter to see a stack of papers with a big gold seal on the first page. Plaintiff: Research in Motion Inc. Defendant: Kik Interactive Inc. RIM, the company I worked for as a co-op student. The company I loved. The company that I thought could benefit from Kik’s vision for a mobile community. The company that placed Kik on Blackberry App World without issue. The company I shared our entire plan with every step of the way, is suing us.

I’m not afraid. I’m not surprised. But I am disappointed.

RIM, I wish it could have been different. I wish you would have returned our calls. I wish we could have worked together to bring great things to all of our users.

Maybe next time.

Yes, you read right- Kik CEO and founder Ted Livingston worked for Research in Motion… on the BBM team.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Don’t get your hopes up, though, it’s very unlikely RIM will let Kik into the App World ever again, even if they win the lawsuit.