Openwave Enters Patent Fray, Sues Apple, RIM at ITC
Openwave sued Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) at the International Trade Commission for allegedly infringing patents related to mobile Internet access, the company said Wednesday. The mobile software developer owns patents for five mobile device inventions that are directly infringed by several Apple and RIM products, the company alleged.
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Openwave seeks a permanent exclusion to block the sale and import into the U.S. of its competitors’ allegedly infringing devices, including Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, and RIM’s Blackberry Curve 9330 and Playbook. “We believe that these large companies should pay us for the use of our technologies, particularly in light of the substantial revenue these companies have earned from devices that use our intellectual property,” said Openwave CEO Ken Denman.
Openwave approached both Apple and RIM “numerous times” to negotiate a license agreement but did not receive a “substantive response,” the company said. “In the end, litigation is the only way we can defend our rights against these large companies that have effectively refused to license the use of the technologies we invented,” said Denman. Apple and RIM had no comment. Openwave is represented by attorneys from Alston and Bird.
The suit alleged that Apple and RIM violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act when it infringed on five of its patents: “447,” “409,” “608,” “037” and “212.” The 447 patent technology enables users to interact with Web pages on their mobile devices through a compatible interface, the ITC filing said. The 409 patent covers a fundamental mechanism that allows webpages and applications to wirelessly communicate with a server from a mobile device. The 608 patent technology enables data to be shared and accessed across different devices and has broad application to cloud computing, the company said. The 037 patent technology provides a way for users to access updates to mobile applications or “apps” and the 212 patent technology allows users to access and interact with their email even when there is no network connection, the suit said.
This is not Openwave’s first trip to the patent rodeo. In 2009 the company sued 724 Solutions, a mobile media and advertising firm in U.S. District Court in San Francisco over alleged infringement of some of the same patents. The companies settled the case and signed a license agreement that required 724 Solutions to pay royalties to Openwave. Openwave also filed a complaint against Apple and RIM in a U.S. District Court of Delaware, where Openwave is incorporated.