Garnet Digital大手筆告手機廠

英國專利授權公司Garnet Digital於2011.12.2.在東德州地方法院控告手機、電信及通路商共33家侵害其通信終端銜接遠端資料庫技術的專利。
本案系爭專利US5,379,421係於1995年由獨立發明人Palazzi, III, Michael A 及Epps, III, Frank A. 申請取得後，專利權移轉給Laursar Communications，直在2011年歷經3次專利權移轉至Garnet Digital公司手上。

本案被告群
Apple, Inc.
Samsung Electronics America, Inc.
Samsung TeleCommunications America, LLC
AT&T Inc.
AT&T Mobility LLC
Dell Inc.
Pantech Wireless, Inc.
HTC America, Inc.
Research In Motion Corporation
Sharp Electronics Corporation
Hewlett-Packard Company
LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc.
LG Electronics Mobilecomm U.S.A., Inc.
Motorola Mobility, Inc.
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (USA) Inc.
Casio America, Inc.
Google Inc.
Verizon Communications, Inc.
Cellco Partnership (DBA Verizon Wireless)
Sprint Solutions, Inc.
Sprint Nextel Corporation
T-Mobile USA, Inc.
Boost Mobile, LLC
Virgin Mobile USA, Inc.
Virgin Mobile USA, L.P.
United States Cellular Corporation
MetroPCS Communications, Inc.
Leap Wireless International, Inc.
STX Wireless Operations, LLC
Huawei Technologies USA Inc.
ZTE (USA) Inc.
Radioshack Corporation
Kyocera Communications, Inc.

US5,379,421
Title : Interactive terminal for the access of remote database information
FIling Date : 1994.5.6.
Issue Date : 1995.1.3.
Abstract :
The invention relates to an inexpensive telecommunications device utilizing existent components located in the home or office, such as a television receiver and a telephone, for creating an interactive display terminal for accessing information stored in remote computer databases. In one embodiment according to the invention, the terminal is configured with the necessary logic components to communicate with a host computer system via telephone lines. Alternatively, the device may be directly connected to an inhouse data retrieval network. The terminal is software controlled at the host database and can be dedicated to a particular host computer database system, or may be utilized with various host systems. A multiple screen memory, which is programmable at the host database, may be utilized for storing multiple television screens of information. Peripheral components, such as a printer or disk drive, may be attached to the terminal. The device, when disconnected from the host database, may be programmed to operate in a stand-alone capacity. A data compression technique is employed to reduce the communication time between the host computer system and the terminal.