Expense mgt patent for Asentinel

MEMPHIS, US: Asentinel, a technology-driven telecom lifecycle management company, today announced it has entered into a patent license agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Asentinel has provided a worldwide non-exclusive license to U.S. Patent Nos. 7,340,422 and 7,805,342 and related U.S. and foreign counterpart patent applications to a significant provider of telecommunications expense management (TEM) services.

These patents owned by Asentinel relate to systems and methods of processing and analyzing expense invoices that enable large corporate users of telecommunications services to save millions of dollars on their telecommunications services. These patents include more than 80 claims issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

“We long ago recognized the value behind our innovative TEM approaches, and invested in developing a formidable patent portfolio to protect our ideas. This agreement is significant because it further confirms our leading edge technology and its value," said Asentinel CEO David C. Perdue. “We are pleased with this agreement, and appreciate that the licensee reached out to us to license these patents.”

“With strong growth expected in the TEM market over the next five years, we believe companies will look to providers with the technology necessary to legally provide the services needed,” added Perdue. “We believe our patents place Asentinel in a strong position as companies contemplate and think through which providers they buy from.”

On September 30, 2010, Asentinel announced that it had filed a patent infringement complaint against AnchorPoint, Cass Information Systems, and Veramark Technologies. Asentinel filed the complaint in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee accusing the defendants' of infringing the '422 and '342 patents. Asentinel is seeking damages, as well as a permanent injunction to prevent the defendants from offering the accused infringing products and services. The patent license agreement is not with one of these defendants, but is with a major player in the TEM industry, added a press release.