ITT Corporation (NYSE:ITT) has filed a lawsuit against Verizon Wireless, Nokia, Motorola, Qualcomm, Kyocera, and LG Electronics for infringing on their GPS patent.  The lawsuit was dated March 23 and it was filed at the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware.  ITT stated that Verizon Wireless and Vodafone Group Plc is infringing their patent by selling mobile phones that assist with GPS technology and the phone can automatically detect the user’s location.

The patent in question is #5,365,450, “Hybrid GPS/data line unit for rapid, precise, and robust position determination.”  ITT asked the court for a permanent injunction against violation of the patent except to the extent to support 911 emergency services.  ITT wants damages equivalent to a “reasonable royalty” and interest.

A Nokia spokesperson stated that the company “will vigorously defend itself in this matter and ensure its rights are fully protected.”  Other companies related to the lawsuit were not available for comment.

[via Reuters]

A couple of new phones have popped up on Virgin Mobile’s website, powered by Kyocera.  The first handset is the S1300 Melo (JAX) — its not much of a feature-crammed phone at all.  As a matter of fact, the only thing it really has going for it is a color screen.  The X-tc phone has a lot more goin’ on.  It has a sliding QWERTY, QVGA display, a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and Facebook/MySpace applications built-in.

[via BGR / Phone Scoop]