MIAMI, Oct. 4, 2017 /CNW/ - Miami-based United
American Corp (UnitedCorp), (OTC: UAMA) announced today that it has
received its Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent
Office ("USPTO") for its Geolocation-Based Image Overlay
Technology and as a result will take further enforcement steps
against Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) in the
United States for patent infringement from the use of Snap's
geolocation-based filters the company markets as "Geofilters".
Issued under the trade name "iFramed" the U.S. Patent
Application Publication no. US 2016/0359987 was derived from
International Application Publication No. WO2015/100496 filed
December 30, 2014 and claims a first
priority date of January 3, 2014, was
allowed by the USPTO on October 3,
2017 and the corresponding patent is scheduled to be issued
within the following weeks. An extensive list of prior art
references were cited, reviewed and considered by the USPTO during
this process, including those raised recently by Snap's counsel in
the Canadian legal proceedings.
The corresponding Canadian Patent No. 2,887,596 was issued on
June 14, 2016 and is the subject of
an ongoing infringement action as filed with the Federal Court of
Canada - court file No.
T-1406-16.
Other iFramed patent applications are currently pending in
China, India, Australia, Europe and Japan.
The recently allowed US iFramed Patent Application is directed
to the implementation of a dedicated mobile content sharing
application that can acquire and share new user images or videos,
but also gives users the ability to select between distinct locally
sourced external content items based on their location to be
integrated within their own content before sharing. Accordingly
users can select based on their location, to adorn their images,
for example, using selected references to local brands and/or
enterprises.
While UnitedCorp has not yet completed a full review of other
social media applications, the company believes that other social
media applications may also be infringing on the patent.
UnitedCorp holds all technology rights related to its dedicated
mobile content sharing technology with digital integration of
users' selectable external content based on their location through
its wholly-owned subsidiary, iFramed Canada Ltd. The technology
forms the basis for SnapChat's "Geofilters" for photos and videos
based on geo-location. Snap Inc. is a provider of image and
video‐based social media services with head office in Venice, California.
The iFramed patent portfolio has been appraised by TechInsights
at US$1.04 billion.
iFramed also holds priority rights as of January 3, 2014 to the technology in other key
jurisdictions including China,
Australia, Japan, India,
Canada and throughout Europe. UnitedCorp is seeking remedies in the
form of monetary damages for past infringement, as well as
injunctive relief prohibiting Snap Inc. from continuing to infringe
on it Intellectual Property.
"As we have always asserted, the use of Snap's Geofilters, which
by their own SEC registration filing is key to their monetization
of SnapChat, is a direct infringement of the iFramed technology,"
stated Benoit Laliberte,
UnitedCorp's President. "The Notice of Allowance issued today only
confirms our long standing position on the matter."
He went on to say, "We have tried to work on a good faith basis
with Snap since August 2016 to
resolve the matter. Unfortunately Snap has ceased to engage in
discussions with us and instead has elected to rely on legal delay
tactics in the Canadian proceedings."
About iFramed
iFramed is a dedicated mobile content sharing application and
platform which allows its users'-originated content to be posted in
real time on their social media accounts with a digital integration
of external content selectable by its users based on their
geo-location. iFramed, the world's first and only social media
posting gateway technology and next generation social network
content sharing platform.
About UnitedCorp
UnitedCorp is a Florida-based
holding and management company focusing on telecommunications and
information technologies. For more information, visit:
This news release contains forward-looking statements that are
subject to various risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual
results could differ materially from those anticipated in such
forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors that may
be beyond the Company's control. Forward-looking statements are
based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management
on the date the statements are made, and the Company assumes no
obligation to update forward-looking statements should
circumstances in management's expectations or opinions change.
SOURCE United American