Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA settle data synchronization dispute: AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Alltel also targeted

Patent-holding company Acacia Research Corp. announced settlements with Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. after filing a lawsuit earlier this year through a subsidiary that claimed the operators were violating a patent on synchronizing information on wireless devices.
Terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Acacia subsidiary CSC filed a lawsuit in May naming all four national carriers, plus Alltel Corp., as violators of its synchronization patent. According to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, CSC claimed that the carriers were offering services-including device back-up and address synchronization for devices such as Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerrys, Palm Inc.’s Treos and other smartphones-that violated its patent. All of the carriers denied violating the patent, and AT&T Mobility filed a countersuit against Acacia. Acacia requested in mid-November that the case be dismissed.
According to Acacia, its subsidiaries control 85 patent portfolios covering various industries, including database management, credit card fraud protection, audio/video enhancement and user activated Internet advertising.