Unwired Planet, Inc., through its Nevada-based subsidiary, Unwired Planet LLC, today announced it has filed a patent infringement complaint against Square, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.
The suit was filed by Unwired Planet to protect the Cloud & Services portion of its intellectual property (IP) licensing business. In the complaint filed in Reno, Nevada, Unwired Planet charges Square with infringing three of its patents related to location-based services and mobile payments.
"Square generates substantial revenues from mobile payment technology that relies on the intellectual property that Unwired Planet developed and patented many years ago. We are seeking reasonable compensation for continued use of this technology. While our first choice is to reach a licensing arrangement without litigation, we have determined that enforcement is necessary in this instance," said Phil Vachon, chairman of Unwired Planet.
Unwired Planet has partnered with Morgan Lewis under an alternative fee arrangement. The arrangement involves a combination of fixed and success payments which begin the first quarter of the company’s fiscal year 2015.
The patents asserted against Square in this matter are:
1. United States Patent No. 7,711,100, entitled "System and Method for Controlling Financial Transactions Over a Wireless Network," asserted against Square Wallet. This patent generally relates to location-based, financial transactions made by wireless devices.
2. United States Patent No. 7,376,433, entitled "Subscriber Delivered Location-Based Services," asserted against Square Wallet. This patent generally relates to location-based merchant selection and transactions made by wireless devices.
3. United States Patent No. 8,275,359, entitled "Wireless User Based Notification System," asserted against Square Wallet and Square Register. This patent generally relates to location-based mobile device notifications.