Case Background

Headwater Research LLC, founded by wireless pioneer Dr. Gregory Raleigh, developed and patented several innovations in mobile communications. These inventions improved wireless data efficiency, reduced power consumption, and enhanced device-user interaction. Dr. Raleigh previously co-founded Clarity Wireless and Airgo Networks, companies later acquired by Cisco and Qualcomm. He played a key role in advancing MIMO technology, now central to 4G and 5G systems.

In 2008, Dr. Raleigh founded Headwater and ItsOn Inc. to further commercialize these technologies. Through ItsOn, Headwater collaborated with Sprint and Samsung to integrate patented solutions into mobile devices. These included features such as background data controls, application-specific network policies, and device-assisted network management.

Cause

The dispute emerged from collaboration gone sour. Between 2013 and 2016, Headwater, through ItsOn, worked closely with Sprint and Samsung under non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). They shared proprietary software and granted deep access to Samsung engineers. Samsung incorporated the ItsOn application, which embodied Headwater’s patented technologies, into multiple device models.

But in October 2015, Samsung Korea abruptly took over negotiations. Shortly after requesting confidential source code for Headwater’s roaming control technology, Samsung cut off the project. Sprint terminated ItsOn’s service agreement days later. Despite this, Samsung released new devices with similar features, allegedly derived from the Headwater software. Headwater viewed this as misapprop