Cease and desist letters issued for Facebook "Frames" and
Instagram "Geostickers"
MIAMI, FL, Oct. 13, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - Miami-based United American Corp (UnitedCorp),
(OTC: UAMA) announced today that it has taken further enforcement
steps related to the protection of its intellectual property and
has issued cease and desist notices to Facebook (NQ: FB) and
Instagram related to their respective geolocation-based image
overlays which infringe on UnitedCorp's iFramed technology.
The iFramed Patent and Patent Application which was allowed by
the US Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) on October 3, 2017 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. A Canadian patent for iFramed was issued on
June 14, 2016 and the technology is
patent pending in several international jurisdictions including
Japan, Australia, China, India
and throughout Europe.
Both Facebook "Frames" and Instagram "Geostickers" provide users
with image overlays which are based on the user's geolocations.
Users can then post their content to their respective social media
accounts. "Frames" and "Geostickers" features are a direct
infringement of iFramed intellectual property.
The action follows similar cease and desist notices issued to
Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) on October 3,
2017 regarding Snap's use of geo-location based filters
which it markets as "Geofilters" and to certain clients of
Snap which use its Geofilters.
"Both Facebook and Instagram take intellectual property
seriously and provide their users with tools and recourses to
protect what they own ," stated Benoit
Laliberte, UnitedCorp's President. "Now that they are aware
of the iFramed patent, we hope that they will act just as
responsibly. Going forward we will give them every opportunity to
be able to use the technology legally."
UnitedCorp will provide the companies the opportunity to discuss
various iFramed licensing options for the use of its technology.
UnitedCorp provides an array of licensing packages for
geolocation-based image overlay filters through the iFramed app
which also allows users to post to all major social media sites
simultaneously.
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, and
was allowed by the USPTO on October 3,
2017. 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 is the subject
of an ongoing infringement action as filed with the Federal Court
of Canada - court file No.
T-1406-16.
The iFramed patent portfolio has been appraised by TechInsights
at US$1.04 billion.
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:
www.unitedcorp.com
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