Wireless-Software Firm Phone.com
Files Suit Over Geoworks' Patent
An INTERACTIVE JOURNAL News Roundup
Wireless-phone software maker Phone.com Inc. said it filed a lawsuit against rival Geoworks Corp., in an effort to get a Geoworks patent declared invalid.
Since the beginning of the year, Geoworks has stepped up efforts to get wireless companies to pay licensing fees if they use its patented technology in wireless-application-protocol, or WAP, phones.
Phone.com's suit seeks a court order declaring that U.S. Patent No. 5,327,529 assigned to Geoworks isn't infringed by Phone.com and that the patent also is invalid and unenforceable. Phone.com said it filed the suit "in response to Geoworks' aggressive attempt to require industry participants to obtain licenses under the Geoworks patent."
Alan Black, chief financial officer and vice president of Phone.com, said in a statement: "We believe that this lawsuit will produce an unequivocal declaration that Geoworks' patent has no relation to, and is not infringed by, Phone.com's technology, and that, in addition, the patent is invalid and unenforceable."
In its suit, Phone.com said that Geoworks has set a deadline of July 1 for Phone.com to take a license to the patent, and added that it has no intention to pay a licensing fee to Geoworks.
In a statement released early Wednesday, Geoworks said that it views Phone.com's claims as "completely without merit" and an attempt to interfere with Geoworks' licensing program.
interactive.wsj.com
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