Cequint, which describes itself as a “pioneer in landline caller ID” claims that it was first to provide “enhanced mobile caller ID” by not just showing the phone number of a caller, but also the location from where the call originates. The first patent in question, #6,353,664, was filed in December of 1997 and granted to Lucent in 2002; Cequint acquired the patent in 2007. The second patent mentioned in the lawsuit, #7,200,212, was filed in January 2005 and granted to Cequint in April of 2007.

According to the patent, Cequint’s invention covers the retrieval of “the calling number delivery (CND) message from a local central office (CO) switch or mobile station switching center”, the storage containing “corresponding geographic information such as city and state by matching the area code and/or local exchange number received:, as well as a readout device to display the geographic information.

Cequint may have a clear-cut case here as Apple appears to be one of the very few missing customers of Cequint. AT&T, Google, HTC, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile and Verizon are listed as the company’s customers.

In its patent infringement lawsuit, Cequint asks to be compensated for Apple’s direct and indirect infringement on its patents.

SOURCE via Morris James (PDF)