Japan Based ADC Technology, Inc. Claims Patent Infringement against Major Mobile Phone Manufacturers

March 11, 2010 - PRLog -- With all the advances in mobile technology and many mobile phone manufacturers delivering similar features it’s hard to draw a line where patent infringement begins and ends. Such a problem arose Thursday, March 4, 2010 when ADC Technology Inc. filed a complaint against several mobile phone manufacturers including: LG, US Cellular, Apple, HTC, Exedea and Nokia.

The complaint claims infringement on three “Portable Communicator” patents, which date back to 1995.  ADC is the owner of the series of patents on inventions made by Toshiharu Enmei for the company. Headquartered in Nagoya, Japan, ADC develops technology and sells products used in wireless communication.

In the complaint, filed in the US District Court of Illinois, ADC accuses the listed defendants of infringing, “one or more of the ADC patents by selling, offering to sell, and/or importing mobile communications devices in the US"; and is asking to be awarded damages adequate to compensate for their loss as well as prejudgment interest from the date the infringement began.

In a statement to Patent Calls Nokia stated, “We recently became aware of the complaint and are studying the allegations. Nokia will defend itself vigorously in this matter.”

In the complaint ADC goes on to state that each of the defendants knowingly placed its infringing products in the stream of commerce with intent that the products would be distributed and sold to consumers.

ADC names several popular mobile phones in the complaint, among those are LG’s enV Touch, Apple’s iPhone, and HTC’s DROID.

According to an independent patent report, prepared by Patent Calls, on US Patent 6,985,136 there are many devices that could likely be infringing upon the patent, “Cell phones and laptops are two major devices that could potentially infringe.  However, many other mobile computing devices such as Personal Digital Assistants and GPS units could potentially infringe.”

Patent Calls tried to reach all parties involved for comment.

HTC declined to comment, Apple and LG had not responded by press time.

In October of 2008 ADC filed a complaint against Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony for allegedly violating five of their patents relating to remote distribution of software to terminal devices. In early 2009, ADC filed a motion to dismiss Sony from the suit, making Microsoft and Nintendo the sole defendants.

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