By now all those millions of android and apple lovers must have expressed their anger and disappointment at the weekend launch of bbm, popularly know as the blackberry messenger.

On Friday night, there existed two fake apps in Google play store, that increased to around 14 by midday on Saturday and it continued. Millions of unknowing consumers downloaded these fake apps unfortunately. The IP lawyers for blackberry were noticeable in their absence.

Not only did the brand suffer damage, there was consumer confusion too. In the digital age, the lack of IP monitoring was exposed. The disgusted posts and expression of anger of of those unfortunate souls who downloaded malware is for the record books maybe. However, the lack of good IP monitoring is something of serious concern. IP monitoring is a continuous and tedious procedure which numerous attorneys and consumers do not undertake. The amount of work that goes is not equivalent to the amount of money charged and it is often done for free by law firms. However, in this day and age, such monitoring especially on mediums such as the Internet and the various app stores is of paramount importance. Plain vanilla protection of a client’s IP rights are now redundant.

Blackberry limited needs to get its house in order, not only on the tech front but also in their IP and legal front. The unfortunate experience of Blackberry is something that brand owners need to look at in light of their own brands.