Bad news for Ryan Seacrest: his startup keyboard company is being sued by beleaguered smart-phone company Blackberry!

According to USA Today, Blackberry is claiming that Seacrest is ripping off a Blackberry patent. "The allegations emerged in a patent infringement lawsuit filed Friday in a San Francisco federal court by BlackBerry. The suit targets an iPhone keyboard made by Typo Products, a Los Angeles start-up co-founded by Seacrest and entrepreneur Laurence Hallier. The complaint contends that Typo Products' keyboard for recent iPhone models illegally copies technology and designs that BlackBerry pioneered years ago for its line of smartphones. BlackBerry is seeking unspecified damages and a court order that would prevent Typo Products from selling the keyboard without a licensing agreement," reports USA Today.

"This is a blatant infringement against BlackBerry's iconic keyboard, and we will vigorously protect our intellectual property against any company that attempts to copy our unique design," BlackBerry's general counsel and chief legal officer Steve Zipperstein said in a statement. "We are flattered by the desire to graft our keyboard onto other smartphones, but we will not tolerate such activity without fair compensation for using our intellectual property and our technological innovations."

According to The Verge, this was meant to be attached to the Apple iPhone. "In a statement, Typo Keyboard said it plans to fight the case in court. 'Although we respect Blackberry and its intellectual property, we believe that Blackberry's claims against Typo lack merit and we intend to defend the case vigorously,' the company said in a statement to The Verge. 'We are excited about our innovative keyboard design, which is the culmination of years of development and research.' The company added that it would still be shipping pre-orders later this month," reports the website.