BASIS International Ltd. has taken swift legal action against Research In Motion claiming that the name "BBX" of the new BlackBerry operating system is causing confusion for the worldwide BASIS community. BASIS claims the ownership of the BBx trademarked operating system independent language, database, and toolset.

BASIS Chairman and CEO, Nico Spence, said, "We have thousands of product licenses installed worldwide with the 'BBX' prefix that run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and other proprietary UNIX OSs from IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and SUN, with mobile clients running Apple iOS, Google Android, and Windows Mobile. We are fielding numerous customer inquiries voicing their confusion about the RIM announcement."

BASIS' latest generation of BBx, BBj, is an OS-agnostic language that runs on numerous OSs, Java platforms, and JavaScript-enabled browsers, and is not limited to just BlackBerry cellphones and tablets powered by RIM's "BBX."

Spence adds, "Ironically, BASIS' BBx may aid RIM in its quest to grab a share of the application market for mobile devices in that any application created with BASIS' BBx for the Android or iOS mobile devices will also run on BlackBerry products."

"RIM has not yet received a copy of the legal complaint described in Basis International's press release, but we do not believe the marks are confusing, particularly since our respective companies are in different lines of business," the Waterloo, Ontario-based company said.