Sprint Loses Patent Infringment Lawsuit in L.A.

By Editor Wireless and Mobile News on May 20, 2008 1:00 PM

Dovel & Luner LLP today announced that a Los Angeles jury has found Sprint Nextel liable for infringing two patents owned by California company Enovsys LLC. The jury returned its verdict late Friday, May 16, 2008, and awarded Enovsys past damages of $2.78 million.

The patents relate to a privacy system used to protect and manage the disclosure of the precise location of a user’s cell phone (e.g., the phone’s GPS position). Enovsys had alleged that Sprint Nextel’s wireless networks use the patents in managing location-based services provided by the nation’s third largest wireless carrier. Testimony at trial showed that Sprint Nextel is the market leader in the growing field of location services and saw a 50% increase in related revenues in 2007 over the prior year.

Inventors Mundi Fomukong and Denzil Chesney applied for the first of the patents in 1997, several years before location services were first offered for cell phones. Enovsys is an intellectual property holding company privately held by inventor Fomukong.

“We appreciate the jury’s service in this case and feel they came to a just result. Their verdict will ensure that the Enovsys patents are respected by Sprint and others for the remaining nine years of their term,” said Jeff Eichmann, of Dovel & Luner LLP, who represented Enovsys along with Greg Dovel.