Optis Wireless Sues Tesla for Patent Infringement Over Vehicle Connectivity
Optis Wireless Technology LLC filed a complaint against Tesla Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas. The company claims that Tesla has infringed its patents by using cellular connectivity in Tesla vehicles.
The complaint lists United States Patent Nos. 8,149,727 (the ’727 patent); 8,199,792 (the ’792 patent); 8,223,863 (the ’863 patent); 8,254,335 (the ’335 patent); and 8,320,319 (the ’319 patent).
The plaintiffs contended that Tesla has infringed the ’727 patent titled “Radio Transmission Apparatus, and Radio Transmission Method.” According to the plaintiffs, Tesla’s products infringe on at least one claim of the ’727 patent.
“Tesla makes, uses, sells, offers for sale, exports, and/or imports…these vehicles that are compatible with…(and) utilize the 4G/LTE standard and thus directly infringes the ’727 patent.”
The plaintiffs allege the following in their complaint:-
a) The patents mentioned above “are necessary to practice the 3GPP LTE cellular technical specification." Tesla had not acquired any license to use them. The plaintiffs' efforts to reach a licensing agreement with Tesla failed.
b) The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (‘3GPP’) 3GPP “produces technical specifications that define cellular technologies.” Tesla has, directly and indirectly, infringed the patents-in-suit through its “connected vehicles that communicate over the 4G/LTE cellular network standard.
c) Tesla’s infringing products include “all Tesla automobiles without limitation Tesla’s Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, that are configured to communicate over the 4G/LTE cellular network. These models include 3GPP LTE-practicing baseband processor” and “RF transceiver, antennas, CPU, RF power amplifiers, user graphical interfaces, and other software and hardware. All of these components combine together to enable the Tesla vehicles,and the users of those vehicles to conduct LTE communications by practising the 3GPP LTE standards.”
