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16 October 2017Patents

Facebook and Instagram receive enforcement letters over app technology

Telecoms company UnitedCorp has claimed that features on Facebook and Instagram that allow users to reveal their location infringe technology it owns covering a newly released smartphone app.

In cease-and-desist letters, Miami-based UnitedCorp said the social media networks’ geolocation-based image overlays infringe a patent covering the iFramed app.

The app uses technology that acquires and shares images and videos, but also gives users the ability to select “locally sourced content” based on their location before sharing.

UnitedCorp’s complaint said Facebook’s ‘Frames’ feature and Instagram’s ‘Geostickers’ technology infringe the patent.

Both features provide users with image overlays based on location, enabling them to post location-specific content to their accounts.

iFramed is still a relatively new concept. Originally based in Canada it was a tech company in its own right before it was acquired by UnitedCorp in June this year.

According to UnitedCorp, the US Patent and Trademark Office approved a patent application covering iFramed earlier this month, while a Canadian patent was approved in June last year.

Further applications are pending in Japan, Australia, China, India and Europe, UnitedCorp said.

Benoit Laliberte, president of UnitedCorp, said: “Both Facebook and Instagram take IP seriously and provide their users with tools and recourses to protect what they own.

“Now that they are aware of the iFramed patent, we hope that they will act just as responsibly. Going forward we will give them every opportunity to be able to use the technology legally.”

The company added that it would be willing to discuss licensing options.

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Patents
5 February 2018   Miami-based UnitedCorp has taken on photo-sharing platform Instagram in a patent infringement lawsuit filed at the Federal Court of Canada.