Qualcomm's $1bn challenge from GPS firm
Published: 29 October, 2008
READ MORE: Qualcomm
Location technology and GPS are among the hottest growth areas for wireless vendors and operators, and they are also at the heart of a rising number of patent infringement lawsuits as the potential rewards from GPS-related assets increase in value. Qualcomm, no stranger to patent lawsuits, has been served with a new one, from a company called Gabriel Technologies, and concerning Assisted GPS technology.
Gabriel claims that Qualcomm's subsidiary SnapTrack, which focuses on location awareness and hosted asset tracking services, improperly appropriated intellectual property rights as part of a joint development agreement with Locate Networks. Gabriel says that these rights were acquired by its own subsidiary, Trace Technologies, and that Qualcomm wrongly seized 90 patents by claiming ownership. Gabriel says it is seeking damages of over $1bn.
The disputed technology involves enhancements to Assisted GPS, which helps integrate GPS into mobile devices. Qualcomm is the market leader in integrated GPS for handsets as well as running the SnapTrack services for operators and enterprises.
According to the complaint, SnapTrack began taking and unlawfully patenting Locate's technology when it was still an independent company, hoping to boost its patent portfolio and make itself more attractive for acquisition by a larger company (such as Qualcomm). In 2000, Qualcomm purchased SnapTrack for $1bn in stock. The lawsuit states that SnapTrack's then head of technology, Norman Krasner, and his wife received 300,000 shares of Qualcomm stock.
Gabriel Technologies is asking the court to declare that the company owns the contested technology and related patents and other IPR. It also makes claims of breach of the joint development agreement, fraud, misappropriation and unfair competition.
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