Major Tier 1 carriers and other smaller wireless operators are being sued by Tendler Cellular, which alleges their E911 technology infringes on its own emergency location technology.
Tendler sued AT&T Mobility, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA in the U.S. District Court of Texas, alleging patent infringement. Tendler also named U.S. Cellular and Cellco Partnership as defendants.
Tendler's FoneFinder chip is embedded into chipsets and has a GPS receiver that adds synthetic voice emergency signaling when users use a 911 button. E911 issues have been thorny ones in the past for the wireless industry. In the fall of 2007, the FCC set out new rules for wireless carriers to meet interim and annual benchmarks for E911 requirements. At the time, the CTIA protested vigorously against the rules.
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