BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom-Mobile-phone upstart Sendo lashed out with another lawsuit over its canceled Microsoft Corp. smart phone, this time claiming European carrier Orange is infringing on one of Sendo’s patents.
Sendo said it has initiated legal proceedings in the High Court of Justice in London against Orange and is seeking damages and an injunction against future sales of the Orange SPV smart phone. Sendo said its patent relates to the design of the circuit board within the phone.
“Sendo has created intellectual property rights within the smart phone and mobile-phone area. We have been advised by our patent agents that the Orange SPV phone infringes these rights. We have tried to solve the matter in an amicable way,” said Hugh Brogan, Sendo’s chief executive officer. “However, we are now in a position that we have to take legal steps.”
Orange was not immediately available for comment.
Sendo last year filed a lawsuit against Microsoft over a planned smart phone. Sendo, which in 2000 announced plans to build a mobile phone using Microsoft’s Smartphone operating system, alleges Microsoft stole Sendo’s technology and sought to drive the company out of business. Orange last year began selling the world’s first Microsoft smart phone, built by High Tech Corp. The carrier has so far sold about 70,000 of the high-end devices.
For its part, Microsoft announced another carrier deal to sell its smart-phone device. Australian carrier Optus Mobile said it will sell the Qtek 7070, built by HTC, starting this month. The announcement comes just weeks after Swedish carrier TeliaSonera and Hong Kong retailer Synergy announced plans to sell the same device. Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. have stated their intentions to sell Microsoft smart phones in the United States this year.
