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September 12, 2013

Ooma's 911 Alerts Patented -- and Then?

Ooma recent announced its 911 Alerts feature has been awarded a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The feature is good, appears to be unique, and the company plans to continue using it as a differentiator in the marketplace and as a part of a broader defense against litigation.

Available to all Ooma subscribers, the 911 Alerts feature delivers real-time text and email alerts to users whenever 911 is dialed from an Ooma home phone number. (It also begs the question why Tier 1 phone and cable companies couldn't have figured this out about five years ago, but that's another rant...). Ooma customers can add up to three (3) email address and/or mobile phone numbers in the online control panel. Once set, Ooma automatically sends out alerts to the contact list when 911 is dialed.

Will it be licensed?

"We don't comment on specific license discussion that may or may not be taking place, but where we do identify features and capabilities that are unique to our platform, we do take patents, "said Toby Farrand, Ooma Vice President of Engineering.  "It's the ante to get into the game."

The "game" is the ongoing practice among larger, more established technology firms of using patents as a weapon against smaller, more innovative firms. Ooma and many other VoIP firms have been forced to spend time and resources registering patents as a deterrent against litigation by others seeking to crush competition or by patent "trolls" seeking to extort money.

"There are tradeoffs of whether to battle competitors in the marketplace or in the courtroom," Farrand said. "When you have multiple companies with intellectual property position, it's decidedly scorpions in a bottle. We want to fight in the marketplace, not in the court room. Unless you have patents in your corner, you don't get to make those tradeoffs."


image via shutterstock

Farrand wouldn't even come close to discussing if Ooma was in discussions for licensing one or more of its patents or if the company has or is in the process of discussing cross-licensing of its patents with other firms. Nobody's sued Ooma or the company hasn't sued anyone yet, so one might assume Ooma's patent portfolio is doing its job.

Regardless, the 911 Alerts feature is a key differentiator for Ooma. "You'd be surprised at how often people dial 911 on average," Farrand said. The company logs "thousands" of 911 calls through its service per month and has anecdotal stories of 911 Alerts providing notice, enabling people to get to their loved once sometimes faster than the first responders.

Future enhancements to Ooma will likely include an extension of sensing what is going on at home and providing alerts -- to me this sounds like home monitoring sensors leveraging Ooma's investment in DECT -- and improvements of the company's Apple iOS client. Reception to Ooma's Office package for small businesses being sold through Amazon.com and Staples is "positive" and "new things" will be announced in the coming months.




Edited by Ryan Sartor


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