On Wednesday, 31 August, Openwave filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington, DC, requesting that the ITC bar Apple Inc. and Research In Motion Limited from importing into the United States their smartphones and tablet computers that the company believes infringes Openwave patents. 

Openwave  CEO Ken Denman has been speaking exclusively to Mobile Marketing about the company’s reasons for bringing the action. He told us:

“Many readers are well aware that Openwave was one of the pioneers of the mobile internet. In the mid-1990s, Openwave began inventing technologies that enabled mobile devices to connect to the internet, and, in the process, developed a valuable portfolio of patents – essentially a blueprint for today’s mobile internet.
“But, in the last decade, Openwave did not fully capitalize on the business potential of its legacy. In response, more than two years ago the Openwave Board and management began to take new steps to turn this business around and reclaim our position as a peerless innovator of mobile infrastructure software. A key step in our strategy was to capture the value of our patent portfolio.

“Prior to the filing this past Wednesday, Openwave approached both Apple and RIM numerous times in an attempt to negotiate a license of our technology. As neither company responded to our attempts to settle this matter amicably, Openwave was left with no other option to protect its rights.

“We view this complaint as an important step in our program to protect and monetize our patents. We also believe that these large companies should pay Openwave to use the technologies that we invented that have become foundational to the mobile internet – particularly in light of the substantial revenue these companies have earned from devices that we believe use Openwave’s patented technology.

“We anticipate that a favorable ruling by the ITC would lead the companies to negotiate licensing agreements with Openwave. Further, we believe the licensing fees that are due to Openwave are very substantial.”

We’ll keep you posted on the progress and outcome of the case.