GTE Wireless Inc. is taking Qualcomm Inc. to federal court, claiming the handset manufacturer violated its patent by incorporating certain roaming technology in mobile phones.
In a lawsuit filed in Virginia, GTE claims to hold a patent to technology that facilitates intelligent or preferred roaming-the ability to move minutes from one carrier to another over the air in a given market as a way to force carriers to drive down the cost of roaming minutes. It is intelligent roaming that drives AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s all-inclusive Digital One Rate plans, and other carriers are beginning to incorporate the technology as they find it crucial to find low wholesale roaming minutes to compete with the nationwide no-roaming-fee plans offered by AT&T Wireless and Sprint PCS.
The patent at issue involves the ability to prevent a wireless handset from communicating with certain service providers when the customer roams off its home network. This requires a handset to store a system identification code or SID list. If a non-home SID is received, GTE claims its patent allows handsets to determine if a non-home SID is acceptable by comparing the available SIDs with a list of SIDs stored in memory.
The problem is: GTE today is not utilizing its own technology in Virginia because it won’t have the technical capability to remotely update the SID lists until later this year. But Qualcomm is selling handsets with this capability in Virginia, essentially turning GTE’s own technology against the carrier and possibly causing GTE to lose money since its competitors can reduce costs by negotiating more favorable roaming agreements than GTE can.
“GTE’s contention is that Qualcomm uses the patented feature of the patent in the Qualcomm phones and chipsets, giving other wireless companies an unfair advantage over GTE,” said Susan Asher, spokeswoman for GTE. “GTE is prepared to allow Qualcomm to manufacture phones and chipsets using these features subject to entering a royalty-bearing agreement.”
In its lawsuit, GTE said Virginia is one of the carrier’s largest markets in terms of revenue and customers. It offers service to about 350,000 customers in Virginia, and revenue from the area is valued at more than $100 million annually. GTE is asking for an injunction against Qualcomm and unspecified monetary damages if the company does not enter into a licensing agreement with GTE.
Qualcomm declined to comment on the lawsuit.
GTE said other companies have licensed its technology, but would not divulge names. Bell Atlantic Mobile said it sells Qualcomm and Motorola Inc. handsets with stored SID lists.
GTE claims Qualcomm learned of GTE’s patent in Telecommunications Industry Association standards-setting meetings.
“Qualcomm’s infringement has been willful and deliberate,” GTE said in its complaint.
