Company says carriers, phone makers infringe patent

Little-known company Globaltel was awarded a patent last year that it claims Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, Nokia, most phone makers, and every carrier in the world infringes.

The patent, U.S. Patent No. 8,073,895, covers text messages sent from a computer to a mobile phone that include a URL. While it staged a press conference at CES to detail how often the patent is infringed, Globaltel said it would rather sell the patent than chase infringers. "We're a small company. We have no intention of going after these companies," said Robert Sanchez, Globaltel Media's CEO and president. "We're going to sell it to the highest bidder." He claimed he has had discussions with Qualcomm, for which he formerly worked, and about five other companies to buy the patent. Others, including HTC, Motorola, and Samsung, would be the kinds of companies that also might be interested in it, he said.