Plano, TX-based security tech provider Uniloc USA recently filed a pair of patent infringement suits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (E.D. Tex.) in which Uniloc asserts a series of patents directed at conference call and voice over Internet (VoIP) technologies. The defendants, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Internet services subsidiary Google and e-commerce giant Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), are the latest targets in a series of suits Uniloc has filed in the past year, many of which name recognizable consumer tech companies as defendants. Although both cases are focused on telephony services, Uniloc is asserting different patents against either company.

In its official complaint against Google, Uniloc lists three patents-in-suit:

  1. US Patent No.8724622: titled System and Method for Instant VoIP Messaging. It claims a system having a network interface connected to a packet –switched network, a messaging system communicating with plurality of instant voice message client system via the network interface, a communication platform system maintaining connection information for the client system.
  2. US Patent No.7535890: same as above mentioned patent it claims instant voice messaging system for delivering instant messages over a packet switched system.
  3. US Patent No. 8995433: same as first mentioned patent it provides a system having a instant voice messaging application which is useful for delivering instant message.

Uniloc’s suit against Google charges that Google’s Allo app infringes on the patents-in-suit. Allo, an IP-based voice and messaging app, delivers voice messages over a packet-switched network. Uniloc alleges that Allo either directly infringes upon the patents-in-suit or, if the court doesn’t find literal infringement, it infringes upon the patents under the doctrine of equivalents as they perform substantially the same function to achieve substantially the same result. In Uniloc’s official complaint against Amazon.com, the company is asserting a three other patents directed at telecommunications innovations:

  1. US Patent No. 8571194: titled System and Method for Initiating Conference Calls. It claims non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer instruction operable by electronic computer hardware to display instant messages in an IM session.
  2. US Patent No. 7804949: same as above mentioned patent it employs a method of initiating conference calls which reduces the need to manually inform candidates.
  3. US Patent No. 7853000: same as the first mentioned patent it employs method for initiating a conference calls for a conference call requester using a network access device.

 Uniloc alleges that Amazon Chime, a voice and messaging app marketed by amazon.com, infringes upon the asserted patents. Unilocs complaint includes screenshot showing that Chime can be used to initiate conference calls among multiple participants by adding contact to the list of parties to be included in the conference calls and the presenting the phone icon to initiate the conference calls with those contacts . According to litigation complaints statistics maintained by RPX Corporation, Uniloc has filed 49 lawsuits asserting patents.