Google’s Pixel phones targeted in 5G patent suit
Google has been sued by Irish licensing company Lionra Technologies, which claims that the tech giant's flagship Pixel smartphones infringe a 5G networking patent.
The patent in suit is US patent 7,260,141, entitled “Integrated Beamformer/Modem Architecture” and was issued in August 2007. It has an adjusted expiration date set for 2024.
The complaint, filed on Monday, May 9, at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas claims that Google’s 5G-capable Pixel smartphones, excluding the upcoming Pixel 6a and 7 line revealed at Google’s I/O 2022 Keynote event this week.
Lionra claims that the method the handsets use to “modulate and demodulate signals” using “steerable phased array antennas” infringes one or more claims outlined in the ‘141 patent.
The company has requested a jury trial to determine whether Google’s phones infringe the patent and seeks a permanent injunction prohibiting further infringement of the patent, as well as compensatory damages.
The complaint alleges that Google directly infringed, and induced others to infringe the ‘141 patent, but made no claims that Google was aware of the patent’s existence prior to the lawsuit.
This complaint follows Lionra’s lawsuit against Apple in January, citing infringement of the same patent in methods of transmitting and converting 5G signals in the iPhone 12, 13 and SE lines, as well as several iPad models.
Earlier this year, Google was barred from importing several Pixel-branded products, as well as its smart home products, produced in China into the US following a Section 337 investigation sparked by a patent infringement complaint by rival Sonos.
The US International Trade Commission found that Google used three several patented inventions assigned to Sonos without authorisation and sanctioned certain imports of Google’s Nest Hub, Nest Wifi point, Pixel smartphones and Pixelbook laptops.
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