PHOENIX-Freedom Wireless Inc. sued two wireless carriers and three service providers for allegedly violating the company’s patents on providing prepaid wireless services.
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Alltel Corp. are named as defendants in two separate suits, along with their prepaid suppliers: Ericsson Inc. is included in the Cingular suit and Comverse Inc. and VeriSign Inc. are listed as co-defendants with Alltel. The suits were filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for Marshall, Texas.
Freedom Wireless says in its initial complaint that three of its patents were violated; those patents covered “a novel cellular system that enables prepaid services subscribers to both place and receive cellular calls without dialing access codes or using modified telephones.” The company said it is seeking unspecified damages as well as a halt to further patent infringement.
“We believe that these companies have built their prepaid telephone businesses and systems on the unauthorized use of Freedom Wireless’ patents, knowing that their systems are infringing,” said Larry Day, Freedom Wireless’ president.
“We believe this lawsuit has no merit,” said Cingular spokeswoman Rochelle Cohen. She noted that Cingular and Ericsson filed a lawsuit against Freedom Wireless last August in federal court in Phoenix claiming that its patents were invalid, and that the companies plan to request that Freedom’s new complaint be transferred to the court where litigation is already underway.
Freedom Wireless was successful in a similar lawsuit last year against Boston Communications Group Inc., after alleging patent violations related to prepaid wireless services. Cingular and Alltel were also defendants in that case, which ended up being settled in July for $87 million.
