On November 4, 2009, Child Protect LLC filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Sprint Nextel Corporation; AT&T Inc.; Verizon Wireless; Alltel Corporation; Virgin Mobile USA, LP; and Helio. In the lawsuit, Child Protect claims the companies infringe two patents related to telephone location systems.

The patents-at-issue, USP No. 7,046,782, “Telephone call control system and methods,” and USP No. 7,515,700, “Methods for controlling telephone position reporting,” allow for the control of incoming and/or outgoing calls from a telephone. Child Protect claims the Sprint Family Locator, the AT&T Family Map, the Verizon Chaperone, the Alltel Family Finder and the Buddy Beacon programs infringe the patents.

Child Protect seeks treble damages, attorney’s fees and the destruction of defendants’ products.

Source(s): “Child Protect LLC vs. Spring Nextel Corp. et al.,” Recent patent infringement cases filed in the Eastern District of Texas, Southeast Texas Record, November 12, 2009 (http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/222230-recent-patent-infringement-cases-filed-in-the-eastern-district-of-texas).