AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Hit by Location Sharing Patent Suits (1)

Verizon Communications Inc., T-Mobile USA Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., and AT&T Inc. were sued separately for infringing patents owned by Texas-based Piney Woods Mobility LLC that facilitate location sharing programs.

Piney Woods filed the lawsuits in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging that the telecommunications companies’ infringement extended to several family and cloud services, including Verizon Family, T-Mobile Family Mode, AT&T Secure Family, and SmartThings.

The services allow accountholders to locate family members and generate alerts, according to the complaints that alleged the companies encouraged infringement by telling the public they could ...