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Virgin Mobile, MetroPCS in legal battle over phone flashing
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A federal judge threw out Virgin Mobile USA's claim that MetroPCS was meddling with its contracts by using its MetroFlash service. However, the judge did not dismiss some trademark infringement claims that Virgin Mobile brought against MetroPCS.
The whole dispute centers on a service that MetroPCS began in the summer of 2008 to flash competitors' CDMA handsets so that they can work on MetroPCS' network. Virgin Mobile, which subsidizes some of the cost of its handsets and then recoups those expenses through monthly fees, asked MetroPCS to stop selling the service. In response, MetroPCS filed a claim seeking to show that it does not violate any trademarks or interfere with Virgin Mobile's contracts. Virgin Mobile then counter-sued with trademark infringement and contract interference claims.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Fitzwater said that Virgin Mobile's contract with the original customer did not carry over once the custoemr flashed their phone for MetroPCS' network. However, Fitzwater said that the reflashing might constitute a trademark violation by turning the phone into a product that still "uses" Virgin Mobile's trademarks.
Virgin Mobile spokeswoman Jayne Wallace declined to comment to FierceWireless. A MetroPCS spokeswoman also declined to comment.
For more:
- see this Courthouse News Service article
Related Articles:
Virgin Mobile jumps into pricing war with new $50 unlimited plan
MetroPCS will flash existing CDMA handsets
MetroPCS posts 20% revenue increase, but ARPU falls
Comments
Posted by MD40 | September 30, 2009 - 5:52pm
TD for the small guys. The customer wins today. Hack the planet!
Posted by metro Man | October 1, 2009 - 7:14am
Well If I bought the phone with my money and didnt like Virgins service, Its my phone so I could do what ever I want. So if I want to flash it with metro thats my problem not Virgins...
Posted by AngryCustomer | October 12, 2009 - 6:03pm
If Virgin wins this ridiculous trademark infringement battle then "unlocking" any phone whether it being GSM or CDMA should be deemed as such. All GSM carriers do it anyway..after 90 days, call for the unlock code and they give it to you and you are free to use the phone on any network you please (even though it's branded by AT&T/T-Mobile etc). Why can't it be the equivalent with CDMA phones since flashing is essentially unlocking.
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