Starhome, a provider of roaming services for mobile network operators, today announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Roamware, Inc., AT&T Mobility LLC and T-Mobile USA, Inc., in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.
Starhome's complaint alleges infringement of Starhome's patents by defendants' provision of international roaming wireless telephone services to subscribers and telecommunications companies. The Complaint accuses the three of infringing United States Patents 6,920,487 and 7,231,431, each entitled "System and Methods for Global Access to Services for Mobile Telephone Subscribers." Starhome is seeking damages and a judgment enjoining further infringement.
"Starhome's products and services provide innovative wireless mobility solutions to enhance international roaming," said Neta Bloch, General Counsel of Starhome. "Starhome appreciates the significant value our patents confer to our business and intends to aggressively protect our rights."
The Patents cover the core technology of the Starhome Intelligent Call Assistant (ICA) solution and the Starhome Home Short Code (HSC) solution, among other services.
The Starhome HSC solution is said to be one of the first and most fundamental roaming solutions of the VHE (virtual home environment) concept. The solution can convert unrecognized home short codes into valid phone numbers and provide mobile operators with a basis to increase their revenue potential from both the inbound and outbound international roaming market.
The Starhome ICA supplements the HSC solution. ICA overcomes international dialing difficulties by automatically correcting or completing misdialled numbers. As the majority of these calls are never redialed, ICA significantly increases roaming revenues for operators. ICA has a user interface that, among other capabilities, can allow combinations of seamless call completion, native-language voice interaction and post-dialing SMS notification, and support for prepaid or postpaid communities with respect to both inbound and outbound roamers.
Eitan Achlow, CEO of Starhome explained: "Over the course of the last 10 years, Starhome has spent a considerable amount of time and resources in developing the Home Short Code and the Intelligent Call Assistant solutions, both of which are included in our patent-protected portfolio. Starhome invests heavily in intellectual property and realizes the importance of protecting these innovations and technology."