Openwave Systems is suing Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) over patent infringement, alleging the companies violated five of its mobile software patents.
The company filed separate complaints against the two electronics giants yesterday with the International Trade Commission (ITC) and a Delaware district court.
Openwave claims Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices and RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 9330 and BlackBerry PlayBook infringe on its intellectual property rights.
The company wants the trade agency to stop Apple and RIM from importing the devices, a standard move with an ITC complaint.
“We believe that these large companies should pay us for the use of our technologies, particularly in light of the substantial revenue these companies have earned from devices that use our intellectual property,” Openwave CEO Ken Denman said in a statement.
Denman said the company had approached Apple and RIM “numerous times” to negotiate a technology license, but “did not receive a substantive response.”
Apple and RIM could not be immediately reached for comment.
The lawsuit centers around five patents on mobile software used in some of the most basic functions on a smartphone. Openwave owns about 200 patents on mobile software.
One of the patents in the complaint, U.S. Patent No. 6,289,212, allows users to run e-mail applications on a mobile device when the network is unavailable, such as when they are on an airplane.
Another patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,405,037, allows access to updated versions of applications on mobile devices.
The other three patents in the case cover software allowing a device to communicate with a server over a wireless network, a method of navigating through mobile content and sharing data through cloud computing.
The ITC has not yet agreed to investigate the case. Investigations typically take 15 to 18 months to complete and often result in licensing deals.
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