Texas-based Howlink Global LLC took AT&T and Verizon Wireless to court accusing the telecoms of four counts of patent infringement. The charge was eventually whittled down to one allegedly compromised patent, US Patent No. 8,630,279.
Judge J. Rodney Gilstrap, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, reviewed the case and ruled against Howlink, according to Bloomberg Law. Citing an earlier verdict by Magistrate Judge Roy Payne, Gilstrap determined that while AT&T and Verizon may have covered the same theoretical ground as Howlink, they did not literally copy Howlink’s patent.
Howlink had argued for a broad interpretation of the scope of their patent. However, the judge said that that interpretation was not allowable based on concessions granted upon the issuance of that patent, noted Bloomberg Law.
An earlier court case agreed to a narrowed interpretation of “concatenation” rather than a broad one. The loose definition involves a series of things that are linked together in a chainlike manner, according to the account.
When applied to the way mobile devices can read identification codes, the legal precedent was established in 1999, noted Judge Payne, when Ericsson modified its patent application to specifically surrender the broader definition of “concatenation.” The ruling by Judge Gilstrap points back to this earlier determination, which prevented Howlink from claiming ownership of a broad idea when AT&T and Verizon developed their own technology to address the same issue.
“Prosecution history estoppel precludes Howlink’s reliance” on a broad definition of terms to win its case, noted Payne, in a decision that was upheld by Gilstrap.
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