Mobile Companies Sued Over Ringback Tone Patents

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Atkinson, Robert" <rca53 () columbia edu>
Date: April 27, 2007 10:57:53 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Mobile Companies Sued Over Ringback Tone Patents



Mobile Companies Sued Over Ringback Tone Patents

By Amanda Ernst, amanda.ernst () portfoliomedia com

Portfolio Media, New York (April 26, 2007)--A patent suit was filed
Wednesday against eight mobile phone companies, including AT&T Inc.,
Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.,
alleging the various companies' ringback tone products infringe two
patents.

Greenville Communications LLC filed the complaint in the U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. It claims its patents
are infringed by a variety of mobile phone companies and their
products, specifically the tones that callers hear when they dial a
mobile phone.

The patents in suit are U.S. Patent Numbers 5,321,740, titled
"telephone marketing system," and U.S. Patent Number 5,428,670, titled
"communications marketing system." The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
issued them in 1994 and 1995, respectively.

The complaint lists the allegedly infringing products, including
Verizon's Ringback Tones, T-Mobile's CallerTunes, AT&T's Answer Tones,
Alltel Corp.'s Axcess Ringbacks, and Sprint and Boost Mobile LLC's Call
Tones.

British mobile company Vodafone Group plc and German Deutsche Telekom
AG were also named as defendants on the suit, though their allegedly
infringing activities were not outlined in the complaint.

Greenville Communications claims that the defendants should have
licensed the technology, and says the infringement is willful and
deliberate.

"Defendants' infringement of Greenville Communications' exclusive
rights under the '740 and '670 patents will continue to damage
Greenville Communications, causing irreparable harm for which there is
no adequate remedy at law, unless enjoined by this court," the
complaint said.

Greenville Communications is seeking a permanent injunction against the
infringing products, compensatory damages, treble damages, attorneys'
fees and court costs.

Representatives for Alltel, Sprint, AT&T and Vodafone said they had not
yet been served with the complaint and declined to comment on pending
litigation. The other mobile companies did not return requests for
comment Thursday.

Verizon is no stranger to patent litigation. It is currently embroiled
in a patent suit with Vonage Holdings Corp. over voice over Internet
protocol technology patents.

On March 22, a jury found Vonage had infringed three of Verizon's VoIP
patents and ordered it to pay $58 million in damages.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia later
ruled that in the interest of maintaining the status quo pending an
appeal of the jury's verdict, a partial injunction allowing Vonage to
service only its existing 2 million customers was warranted. The court
enjoined the company from using certain products to add new customers.

Vonage argued that in the fickle digital telephone market in which it
operates, the status quo could be preserved only if the company
continued to find new customers.

Vonage appealed the district court's decision and the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a permanent stay against the
injunction on April 24.

Greenville Communications is represented in this matter by attorneys
from Povall & Jeffreys PA and Scruggs Law Firm.

Representative counsel for the mobile phone companies could not be
immediately identified.

The case is Greenville Communications LLC v. Verizon Communications
Inc. et al, case number 07-cv-00066, in the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of Mississippi.


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