, TruePosition also names the standards-setting bodies 3GPP and ETSI, which it said failed to ensure fair and objective standards development.

TruePosition alleged that Ericsson, Qualcomm and Alcatel-Lucent, all of which have patents related to a competing location technology, placed their employees as chairmen of standards-setting groups in order to deliberately exclude TruePosition's technology from the LTE (Long-Term Evolution) standard. LTE is the next-generation or "4G" mobile technology being deployed by most operators.

The companies had the shared goal to "seize unfair competitive advantages for the positioning technologies in which they hold economic interests," TruePosition alleged in the suit.

The chairmen set unfair test parameters for TruePosition's technology far in excess of the parameters set for their favored technologies, the company said. They submitted deliberately skewed simulation results and deliberately shuttled evaluations of TruePosition's technology into working groups they controlled for the purpose of "quashing" inclusion of competitive technologies in the standard, according to the suit.

TruePosition's technology is used by both T-Mobile and AT&T, which together have installed it in 90,000 base stations in the U.S., TruePosition said.