Sierra Wireless resolves ITC lawsuit with purchase of MMP Portfolio™ licence

Sierra_Wireless Sierra Wireless

Cupertino, California, USA (BUSINESS WIRE) — Alliacense announced today that Sierra Wireless, Inc. has purchased an MMP™ Portfolio license. The agreement resolves the ITC Investigation and District Court lawsuit recently filed against Sierra Wireless, a mobile computing and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications solutions company.

Sierra joins a roster of nearly 100 MMP licensees that include some of the world’s largest electronics companies, such as HP, Sony, Nokia, General Electric, ASUStek, and Philips.

The MMP Portfolio™ patents, originated by The TPL Group in 1989, includes US, European and Japanese patents, covering techniques that enable higher performance and lower cost designs essential to consumer and commercial digital systems ranging from PCs, mobile phones and portable music players to communications infrastructure, wireless medical equipment and automobiles.

In July, MMP Portfolio owners, Technology Properties Ltd (TPL) and Patriot Scientific Corporation (PTSC), launched the first wave of aggressive enforcement activities, filing a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and corresponding complaints in the US District Court for the Northern District of California against 13 companies believed to be infringing the MMP Portfolio patents. Sierra Wireless is the first of the 13 companies to purchase an MMP License.

The three-pronged enforcement strategy includes: (1) a Complaint filed with the US International Trade Commission seeking an Exclusion Order prohibiting the importation of unlicensed products; (2) parallel actions in US District Court seeking damages for past infringement that includes past unpaid royalties — plus the interest which has accrued on those royalties — both tripled for willful infringement, plus attorney’s fees; and, (3) the pursuit of injunctions in both the US District Court and the ITC barring the sale of infringing products in the US in the future.

The remaining ITC respondents are: Acer Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc., Garmin Ltd., HTC Corporation, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Kyocera Corporation, LG Electronics, Nintendo Co. Ltd., Novatel Wireless Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and ZTE Corporation.

Alliacense designs and executes Intellectual Property (IP) licensing programmes, and delivers IP project support and reverse engineering services. As a cadre of IP licensing strategists, technology experts, and experienced business development/management executives, Alliacense focuses on expanding the awareness and value of IP portfolios under management.

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