Patent Holding Company taking action against Smartphone Companies

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Emma Heffernan

NTP, the patent-holding company best known for securing $612.5 million from the manufacturer of the Blackberry after accusing it of infringing patents, has now filed suit against six other smartphone companies- Apple, Google, Microsoft, HTC, Motorola and LG Electronics.
 

The suits, which were filed last week, allege that the mobile phone email systems of these companies incorporate NTP’s technology.

The patents in issue are identical to those that were at issue in the litigation taken against Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM), a case that settled in 2006. The settlement included a perpetual licence for RIM to NTP’s technology. Nokia and Good Technology have also licensed NTP’s mobile email patents. The NTP patents expire in 2012.

Patent holding companies often launch patent battles against established industry players even though they have no intention to market their own patented product - hence they have attracted the name "patent trolls".

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