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
For further information: Lawry Trevor Deutsch, SVP Corporate Affairs, (lawry.trevor@unitedcorp.com);
IFRAMED CANADA INC, Michael Eric Schmidt, (mschmidt@iframed.com);
Contact: Jenna Trevor‐Deutsch, Director Public Relations, Email: jenna.trevor@investel.com,
Tel: 604‐398‐5000 ext: 109;