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Could the Orange SPV be pulled, over Sendo lawsuit?

The prospect of all SPV phones being taken off the market arose today, as Sendo sought an injunction against Orange in the UK, based on failure to resolve a patent issue.

Sendo believes it designed Microsoft's Smartphone; and it sued Microsoft last year over this. But Microsoft doesn't make the Orange SPV; Chinese company HTC does. And HTC doesn't sell it; Orange does - so if Sendo was trying to be serious about its lawsuit, it had to pull Orange in. And now it has.

Sendo today confirmed that it has initiated legal proceedings in the High Court of Justice in London against the mobile phone operator Orange in the United Kingdom. The legal action has been taken because Sendo believes that the Orange SPV smartphone infringes a patent granted to Sendo relating to the design of the circuit board within the phone.

That leaves the question: what about HTC? No response yet from Sendo, and so the market will have to wait for the other shoe to fall.

Sendo founder and CEO, Hugh Brogan issued the following short statement this afternoon:

"Sendo has created intellectual property rights within the smartphone and mobile phone area. We have been advised by our patent agents, that the Orange SPV phone infringes these rights."

Brogan said Sendo had tried to solve the matter in an amicable way. "However, we are now in a position where we have to take legal steps. We are seeking damages and an injunction to restrain sales of the product."

Brogan concluded: "As we have previously stated, if Sendo believes that its global intellectual property rights are infringed, wherever in the world this might be, we will take steps to defend those rights."