Here in the States, it wouldn’t be a complete day without hearing about another lawsuit in the IP world. The latest patent infringement suit comes from some outfit that calls themselves Intellect Wireless. The suit calls into play a handful of patents, one of which is in regard to Caller ID. Now, we’ve seen this before from another company (suing Apple), but this time around, the suit comes from a different firm and is suing different companies.
The suit was filed in Chicago against T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular, Virgin Mobile USA, and Helio – claiming that the carriers infringed on some Intellect-owned patents regarding “wireless image messaging.” Three patents are in question and all were issued in 1997 – more than a decade ago.
On patent relates to technology that would enable a “Picture Phone with Caller ID” and the other two separate patents at hand are entitled “Method and Apparatus for Improved Paging Receiver and System.”
Vague? Sure. Possibly settlement-worthy? Sure. Unheard of? No way.
We’ll see how this one plays out. That Caller ID patent sounds like a winner – but then why would Intellect choose to sue these particular carriers? Have all other carriers entered into licensing agreements?
[Via: RCRNews]