Whether you know of it as Openwave or Unwired Planet, the company has followed through with its plan to focus on its patent portfolio, using it to file lawsuits against Apple and Google, asserting that they infringed on 10 different patents each.
Unwired Planet filed the complaints in the US District Court for the District of Nevada to “protect its intellectual property or IP licensing business,” accusing Apple and Google of infringement on patents that cover the areas of “smart mobile devices, cloud computing, digital content stores, push notification technologies and location-based services such as mapping and advertising.”
It accuses Apple specifically of infringing on its mobile devices, mobile digitial content systems, cloud messaging systems and map and location systems.
This means covers the iPhone and iPad, technology used in its core iOS framework, push notifications, the much-maligned Maps app, location systems and much more.
Google is said to have infringed with its AdWords, Google Wallet, mobile search and advertising products and while Unwired Planet says that it is protecting its IP, some would say it’s a patent troll.
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The company used to trade under the name Openwave Systems and claimed that it invented the mobile Internet. In April, it sold its software products businesses to investment firm Marlin Equity Partners so it could ‘focus on its intellectual property’.
Openwave rebranded itself as Unwired Planet, which is what the company was called back in 1996.
In November 2011, Openwave reached the first agreement with a company to license its sizeable patent portfolio. That first client was Microsoft. Now it has both Apple and Google named in lawsuits, hoping they both follow suit.
Image Credit: steakpinball
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