Plaintiff
7 cases as plaintiff.
Freedom Wireless, Inc. — Phoenix, Arizona. A closely held (private) wireless-technology development and patent-licensing company. Its patents trace to inventors Douglas Fougnies and Dan Harned and to predecessor firms Cellular Express, Inc. and Cellexis; the first application was filed in December 1994, and the company's roots are as a mid-1990s prepaid cellular reseller. By the time of its litigation campaign it was very small — contemporaneous reporting (Law.com, 2007) described it as a "four-person operation" and a "tiny privately held" firm led by president Larry Day. No public revenue or headcount figures beyond that were located.
Operations. Freedom Wireless did not operate a commercial prepaid network. Its business was developing and licensing patented technology for prepaid wireless service — pay-as-you-go calling in which the switch identifies a subscriber, a host computer validates the account against a database, and the balance is decremented in real time without requiring PIN entry or 800-number dialing. Asserted patents include U.S. 5,722,067 ('067), 6,157,823 ('823) and 6,859,646 ('851), all covering prepaid cellular systems and card-based account top-ups. Press releases named licensees including bcgi/Xius, Telcordia and Virgin Mobile.
Litigation posture. The case data (7 plaintiff, 2 defendant) shows a one-directional enforcer: it sued wireless carriers and prepaid service providers, and appeared as a defendant only in declaratory-judgment actions brought against it (Cingular Wireless LLC et al. v. Freedom Wireless in the District of Arizona, resolved on jurisdictional grounds in 2007). Several infringement suits were filed in the plaintiff-friendly Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division — against Alltel, Cingular/Ericsson, VeriSign and Comverse, and Centennial — while the BCGI case proceeded in the District of Massachusetts.
Notable cases. Freedom Wireless v. Boston Communications Group produced a $128 million jury verdict (May 20, 2005, D. Mass.) against BCGI, Cingular, AT&T Wireless, CMT Partners and Western Wireless; upheld post-trial, then settled in July 2006 for $87 million ($55.3 million from BCGI). In May 2008 VeriSign settled the Texas suit for a confidential sum plus transfer of 10 U.S. and 12 foreign prepaid-wireless patents, expanding Freedom's portfolio.
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Freedom Wireless sued American Cellular and Dobson entities in E.D. Tex.; the case closed per Google Patents/Unified Patents litigation data. No further details.
Freedom Wireless sued SunCom Wireless Operating Company in E.D. Tex.; the case closed per Unified Patents. No further details.
Freedom Wireless asserted claims 17, 22, 27, 30, and 34 of U.S. 6,157,823 against Alltel, U.S. Cellular, Cricket, Comverse, VeriSign, and others in the Eastern District of Texas. The case was closed in 2010 after substantive resolution, terms unconfirmed.
Second District of Massachusetts action by Freedom Wireless against numerous regional carriers, listed in the Stanford NPE database for U.S. 6,157,823. The outcome could not be confirmed.
Freedom Wireless sued BCGI and several wireless carriers in the District of Massachusetts asserting U.S. 5,722,067 and U.S. 6,157,823. A jury awarded $128 million in May 2005; after post-trial rulings and an injunction, the case settled in July 2006 for $87 million.
Docket 2:07-cv-00151 is listed on Google Patents as litigation involving U.S. 6,157,823, but the parties, filing date, and outcome could not be confirmed.
Freedom Wireless sued Alltel and other entities in E.D. Tex. Marshall Division (filed Nov. 29–30, 2006). A 2008 claim-construction opinion addressed claim 15 of the '067 patent and construed 'call' and 'reserved pre-paid cellular telephone number'; the case closed, with sources conflicting on termination date and no merits judgment or damages award found.