Shares of Speedus Corp. shot upward after the wireless broadband company said it was targeting Verizon Wireless with two patent-infringement lawsuits. Speedus said it filed two lawsuits against the nation’s No. 2 operator over technologies used for mobile video and the simultaneous transmission of analog and digital signals within the same bandwidth. The company hinted that the alleged infringement stems from a working relationship with Verizon Communications Inc., which in 1993 invested in and managed a Speedus wireless unit.
Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon and Vodafone Group plc.
“We are astonished by Verizon’s infringement here, since our past relationship with Verizon shows their full knowledge of our intellectual property holdings,” Speedus Chief Executive Officer Shant Hovnanian said in a prepared statement.
A Verizon spokeswoman said the company had not seen the lawsuit yet and could not comment.
Wall Street cheered the move, sending Speedus’ shares up more than 36 percent last week to a new 52-week high of $1.76 per share.
