Today's News |
Vancouver-based Investel Capital Files Patent Infringement Suit Against SnapChat
Wednesday, August 24, 2016Company Profile | Follow Company
Vancouver, BC, August 24, 2016--(T-Net)--Vancouver-based Investel Capital Corporation, the developer of iFramed(TM), an Internet social media user/advertiser relationship-based global marketing system, today announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against SnapChat, Inc. in the Federal Court of Canada.
SnapChat, Inc. is a provider of image and video-based social media services with head office in Venice, California, United States. The suit, filed in the Federal Court of Canada, states that SnapChat, Inc. is infringing on certain claims of Investel's Canadian Patent No. 2,887,596, entitled "USER CONTENT SHARING SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH AUTOMATED EXTERNAL CONTENT INTEGRATION".
Amongst other claims, SnapChat, Inc.'s “geofilters” which use the geolocation of social media users in order to provide on demand insertion of external content in the form of a frame or overlay on pictures or videos, infringes upon several claims held by Investel's patent, according to the company.
Investel is seeking remedies in the form of monetary damages for past infringement, as well as injunctive relief prohibiting Snapchat, Inc. from continuing to infringe the patent.
Investel will also continue to develop and assert its rights from its broadly filed global patent portfolio, which claims the benefit of an early priority date of January 3, 2014, in key jurisdictions including, but not limited to, the United States, China, Australia, Japan, India, Canada and throughout Europe.
Investel through its wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary Teliphone Navigata-Westel Communication Inc. "is the first to develop and patent an advertising system that allow users to brand their own social media content with user-related advertising and information, and then pay those users for posting on social media", the company stated in a press release.
Operating under the trade name “iFramed” the system provides users with advertising choices for integration into pictures and videos based on, among other things, their geographic locations and specific demographic information's. iFramed Canada Ltd. has licensed the iFramed system for exclusive use in North America.
"We have invested heavily to develop and protect our technologies which we use to provide valuable, cutting-edge services to social media users through our licensee partner, iFramed Canada," said Lawry Trevor-Deutsch, Managing Partner.
"We believe that iFramed is a powerful global system and is extremely compelling to both advertisers and social media users. We will not stand by and permit other companies or organisations, including Snapchat, Inc to exploit our proprietary technology. The geo-location data gathered from users and resulting insertion of advertiser's content into posted picture and subsequent monetization to users is vital and key to the use of social media in the future. SnapChat, Inc. seems to have focused most of its core monetization strategy in this area and uses a technology that is propriety to Investel Capital Corporation. This suit reflects our continued commitment to protect our investments by vigorously pursuing the unauthorized and unlicensed use of our intellectual property, whether in Canada or around the world." added Mr. Trevor-Deutsch.
Investel is reviewing its rights and options to assert its patents in regards to other major social media networks that have incorporated its technology as many social media sharing apps are now following this global trend for the next generation of integrated geo-localization branded user generated content into their platforms.
Investel Capital Corp vs. Snapchat, Inc - complete Statement of Claim is available for download at: www.investel.com/legal/snapchatinc.pdf
USER CONTENT SHARING SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH AUTOMATED EXTERNAL CONTENT INTEGRATION: www.google.com/patents/WO2015100496A1?cl=en
For further information on iFramed, go to www.iframed.com
The iFramed application is downloadable at the Apple App Store and Google Play Apps under application name “iFramed”
The Claim was filed on August 22, 2016. The allegations it contains are subject to proof at trial. The defendants have yet to respond to the Claim.
About Investel Capital Corporation
Investel Capital Corporation is an investment fund specializing in the acquisition of telecommunications companies and development of new technologies. With offices in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, it focuses on investing in the development of new technologies with their own R&D resource group and currently has a portfolio of patents files worldwide. It also invests in distressed or underachieving telecom companies that have recurring revenue but low profitability in order to gather efficiencies by folding them into their telecom portfolio. Investel's companies have access to its comprehensive network resources and infrastructures such as administration, engineering, customer support, network operations, amongst other things. In this way, redundant expenses such as operational and network costs are eliminated, thereby reducing overall costs and increasing revenue.
About iFramed Canada Ltd.
iFramed Canada Ltd. is the exclusive North American licensee of iFramed, a complete system for the creation of advertising campaigns on social media through posting of branded content by users. More details on iFramed Canada can be found on the company website.
Contact:
Jenna Trevor-Deutsch
Director Public Relations
Email: jenna.trevor@investel.com
Tel: 604-398-5000 ext: 109