Tech company sues Burger King over app patents
Software technology company Aeritas has accused Burger King of infringing patents that cover the technology that operates a mobile application (app) at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas.
In the suit, filed on Thursday, November 19, Aeritas holds that the fast company infringed five patents, US patent numbers, 8,055,285, 7,706,819, 9,390,435, 9,888,107 and 10,362,160.
These patents, Aeritas argued, cover the technology that Burger King has been using in its app, without the authorisation of Aeritas.
Aeritas said: “The defendant has been and is now infringing one or more claims...by making and using the Burger King App with users’ iOS and Android devices and the Burger King server in the United States without authority.”
According to the software company the patents cover a “processor with computer memory that holds computer programme instructions to perform the functions…[in which] the defendant receives data indicating permission to provide a notification to a mobile device user in accordance with notification criteria”, and by using this technology, the “defendant asks for permission to obtain the user’s location and obtains the user’s location if permission is granted”.
The disputed app then works by using the user’s touch screen input as criteria to search for and locate nearby Burger King stores, said Aeritas.
The user can then create an order for items at a particular Burger King location. When placing an order, the Burger King app provides additional details for a selected item. Based on the user’s location and saved favourites, the Burger King app is able to search for and obtain information, including stores that are currently accepting mobile orders, according to the suit.
When the Burger King app is connected to the Burger King server, the app is able to receive notifications from the server, “including a non-verbal response to spoken input”.
Aeritas holds that it has been damaged by Burger King’s infringing activities, and has requested that the court rule that the fast-food company has infringed the five patents and that it awards Aeritas its costs, attorneys’ fees, expenses, plus interest; alongside further appropriate damages.
The western district of Texas has gained notoriety over the past couple of years as a patent hotspot, proving popular with non-practising entities (NPEs) or ‘patent trolls’.
WIPR has approached Burger King for comment.
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