AT&T Sued For Allegedly Stealing Patented Twinning Technology

(RTTNews) - AT&T Inc. has been sued by Network Apps LLC for allegedly stealing patented twinning technology.

The Seattle-based apps developer filed a complaint in New York Southern District Court against the telecommunications giant for breach-of-contract and patent infringement claims.

Reuters reported that Network Apps seeks $1.35 billion in damages, including royalties.

Network Apps' twinning technology allows smart devices including watches and tablets to respond to calls placed to a single phone number.

The suit is against AT&T's NumberSync that lets consumers sync wireless number with compatible mobile devices.

In the filing, Network Apps accused that the company and AT&T had joint development and licensing agreements for its technology, but the deals were cancelled in 2014. A year later, AT&T allegedly incorporated the technology in its own product, NumberSync.

As per the complaint, NumberSync uses the same concept and architecture with only cosmetic changes.

Reuters quoted Network Apps' founders, John Wantz and Kyle Schei as saying that AT&T's decision to steal their technology has forced them to scale back operations significantly.

They also accuses that AT&T has not paid the required royalties since October 2015.

Network Apps is reportedly seeking at least $450 million of damages that needs to be tripled to reflect AT&T's alleged willful and egregious infringement, as well as royalties for any future infringements.