TCS sues two Virginia companies for patent infringement

Economists look for several indicators to signify that a market sector has reached a certain level of maturity. For us, one such indicator is that companies in the sector begin to sue each other for patent infringement. Well, Annapolis, Maryland-based TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) (NASDAQ: TSYS), a provider of mission-critical wireless communications, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against Chantilly, Virginia-based Mobile 365 and Reston, Virginia-based WiderThan Americas, for patent infringement. TCS seeks an injunction against these companies from further infringement, as well as monetary damages. The lawsuit asserts infringement of U.S. patent no. 6,985,748, issued earlier this year. TCS asserts infringement by defendants’ platforms which route inter-carrier messages addressed to recipients using only a phone number.

TCS has retained the Chicago-based law firm of Niro, Scavone, Haller & Niro, which specializes in intellectual property litigation, to prosecute the case.