Thursday, January 9, 2014

AT&T, Remote Locator Systems Settle Patent Dispute

Case Filed: Aug 27, 2013

Case Closed: Jan 06, 2014

Court: Texas Eastern District Court

Judge: Rodney Gilstrap

Case Summary:
AT&T was charged by Remote Locator Systems for infringing the patent US5548637 entitled ‘Method and apparatus for locating personnel and objects in response to telephone inquiries,’ which was originally issued to Alan C. Heller, Brian M. Evins and Robert G. Karp on Aug 20, 1996 and expired[i] on Sep 09, 2013. Remote Locate Systems was the last assignee[ii] of the patent (source: MaxVal’s Assignment Database).

The ‘637 patent describes a telephone system that automatically forwards calls to telephones that are closest to a particular individual in a building. The system operates by using stationary receivers that detect transmitters attached to individuals.

In its court filing, Remote Locator Systems alleged that “AT&T directly or through intermediaries, made, had made, used, imported, provided, supplied, distributed, sold, and/or offered for sale products and/or systems with its FamilyMap Locator application for the iOS, Android and BlackBerry operating systems that infringed one or more claims of the ’637 patent.” AT&T Family Map allows tracking family members by locating them on an interactive map.

Remote Locator Systems filed a motion for dismissal, considering which the Court granted and ordered all claims be dismissed with prejudice with no charges imposed on any parties.

See 2:13-cv-00674 for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts.

* Expected expiration date using Patent Term Estimator, use our free tool or download our free Android app on Google Play Store. 





[i] Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.
[ii] MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.

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