OTI v. T-Mobile: Another Technological Property Dispute

Another event following the infringement lawsuit trend highlighted by Apple and Samsung, is the ongoing suit between Israeli company On Track Innovations (OTI) and T-Mobile USA. OTI filed the suit in New York’s District Court after its shares rose 8.2 percent to $1.58 last month. The patent infringement in question is T-Mobile’s near field communications (NFC) phones that enable users to pay without needing their plastic credit card in hand. Google is among the mobile providers interested in NFC technology but, hopefully, Google owns the technological property for its adaptation for Androids.

Among NFC phones that are available for purchase today is the Acer E320 Liquid Express, an Android smartphone.  In the same Reuters report, Google announced that it has teamed with Sprint to create a version of NFC phones that compete with Isis, the mobile payments venture behind T-Mobile, ATT and Verizon Wireless. Since OTI is specifically suing T-Mobile for infringing on one of its patents, it is unclear whether the other mobile providers planning to offer NFC services will use the same patented-technology. But one thing for certain is that intellectual property infringement lawsuits are nothing new for Google, the defendant in the high-profile trial of Oracle v. Google.

After Oracle bought Sun Microsystems back in 2010, the copyrights for Java belonged to them. But Oracle is claiming that since Java was implemented in the creation of Google’s very successful Android platform, Google owes them $1 billion. According to a report featured in e-Week, the consequences of this trial could impact future lawsuits, especially if Oracle wins. Perhaps Oracle will seek other copyright infringements, or perhaps Microsoft will find areas in which they believe Google is illegally using their software, thus setting off a chain of suits.

But unlike copyright laws, which are fairly straightforward, patenting sometimes appears in shades of grey. Thus is the case involving Apple and Samsung, although the lawsuit in the US is now heading towards a resolution, as was ordered by the courts. Or are they? Rumors have just sparked that Samsung brought eight patent infringements against Apple in the same court.