Sprint LLC (f/k/a Sprint Corp.)
Sprint LLC — historically branded "Sprint" and known as Sprint Corporation through its independent existence — is a U.S. wireless telecommunications company headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. It traces its origins to the Brown Telephone Company, founded in Abilene, Kansas, in 1899. Sprint was publicly traded on the NYSE (ticker: S) until April 1, 2020, when it was acquired by T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) in an all-stock transaction valued at roughly $26.5 billion. Sprint has since operated as a subsidiary of T-Mobile; the Sprint retail brand was discontinued on August 2, 2020. Pre-merger filings reported 2019 revenue of about $33.6 billion and roughly 28,500 employees (Q1 2019), but those figures describe the former standalone company, not the current legal entity.
Before the merger Sprint was the fourth-largest U.S. mobile network operator, serving about 54 million customers with CDMA/EVDO and 4G LTE networks and, earlier, iDEN and WiMAX. It sold postpaid and prepaid wireless service (including under the Boost Mobile and Open Mobile brands) and provided wholesale network access to MVNOs; its legacy local wireline business was spun off as Embarq in 2006. Its network, spectrum, and customer base were absorbed into T-Mobile.
Sprint LLC is an operating company, not a patent assertion entity. The structured case data show one tracked appearance, as a plaintiff and zero as a defendant — a posture explained by its participation in defensive PTAB challenges rather than affirmative patent assertion. In the tracked matter, Google LLC et al. v. Headwater Research LLC (USPTO PTAB, filed June 7, 2024), Sprint LLC is identified as a real party in interest alongside Google, Verizon, T-Mobile USA, and AT&T in inter partes reviews of U.S. Patent No. 8,589,541.
The patent owner, Headwater Research LLC, is a licensing entity that filed infringement suits against Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile in the Eastern District of Texas (e.g., Headwater Research LLC v. Verizon Communications Inc., No. 2:23-cv-00352). The PTAB's October 1, 2025 final written decision in IPR2024-00942/00943 held the challenged claims of the '541 patent unpatentable. Sprint's involvement reflects cooperative carrier defense against NPE assertion in the wireless service-management technology space.