Samsung’s ChatON May be Off Due to Patent Infringement Allegations

Orange County – Mobile Telecommunications Technologies LLC, a company headquartered in Lewisville, Texas, has filed a lawsuit in an East Texas Federal Court against Samsung Electronics.  Mobile Telecommunications claims that Samsung infringed on at least 3 of its patents for texting and other messaging services.

Samsung, who has been in the digital media business for over 70 years, offers its popular ChatOn messaging application.  ChatOn is Samsung’s latest “Communication Innovation.”  Basically, it allows its users to chat, text and email more easily with all other devices, operating systems and platforms.  It also offers a feature for sending pictures, videos, music, contacts, calendar entries and the sender’s location, to one or a whole group of people.

Mobile Telecommunications has alleged that ChatOn and some of Samsung’s other messaging services are infringing on at least 3 of its patents.  Mobile Telecommunications is seeking to prevent Samsung from selling its messaging services and also hopes to be awarded damages in the case.  The Complaint accuses Samsung of making a multi-billion dollar investment in the production of its electronic equipment.

If Mobile Telecommunications prevails in the lawsuit, it will also aim to prevent Samsung from continuing its applications for Hotmail, Microsoft Exchange and other email systems.  Mobile Telecommunications considers itself an innovator in messaging technology having registered the patents under its related entity, Skytel Communications, a pioneer in paging devices.

The Patents cited in the complaint are: Patent No. 5,809,428 “Method and device for processing undelivered data messages in a two-way wireless communications system”, Patent No. 5,754,946 “Nationwide communication system”, and Patent No.5,894,506 “Method and apparatus for generating and communicating messages between subscribers to an electronic messaging network”.

Since the patents were registered 13-14 years ago, at first appearance it may seem unlikely that the precise technology outlined in the patents still encompasses the technology that Samsung is now using.

At least 5 other lawsuits claiming patent infringement have been initiated by Mobile Telecommunications since 2012, including one against Blackberry, formerly Research in Motion Corporation, citing 6 of its patents.  The case, filed in Federal Court in the Northern District of Texas, is still pending.