Software developer Openwave filed complaints against Apple and Research In Motion in order to protect its intellectual property on how mobile devices connect to the Internet. The complaint, filed with the International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., requests that the ITC bar the import of smartphones and tablet computers that infringe Openwave patents, including AppleÂ’s iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch, iPad and iPad 2 and RIMÂ’s BlackBerry Curve 9330 and BlackBerry PlayBook. Openwave also filed a similar complaint in federal district court in Delaware.
Openwave alleges that Apple and RIM infringe upon five Openwave patents. These patents cover technology that gives consumers access to the Internet from their mobile devices, including Openwave’s 212 patent that generally allows a user to use email applications on a mobile device when the network is unavailable—for example, when a user is on an airplane and the 409 patent that generally allows the mobile device to operate seamlessly, and securely, with a server over a wireless network.
