PATENT ASSIGNMENT

Exhibit 10.9

PATENT ASSIGNMENT

This Patent Assignment is delivered pursuant to the Closing under that certain Purchase Agreement (the “Agreement”) dated as of December 18, 2003, between Aether Systems, Inc., as the “Seller”, and TSYS Acquisition Corp., as the “Purchaser”. Capitalized terms used in this Patent Assignment have the same meanings given to them in the Agreement.

The Seller has delivered this instrument signed by the Seller to enable the Purchaser to file it with any appropriate governmental agency to indicate ownership of the Patents described below and for the other purposes set forth in this instrument. This instrument supplements and is in addition to all other rights of the Purchaser under the Agreement and other instruments of transfer delivered in connection with the Agreement.

For good and valuable consideration, receipt of which the Seller acknowledges, and by signing and delivering this instrument, the Seller sells, assigns, transfers, conveys, and delivers to the Purchaser all of the Seller’s right, title, and interest in and to:

     (a)  the patents and patent applications specifically listed in Annex A to this Patent Assignment; and

     (b)  the following properties and rights with respect to all patents and patent applications so listed in Annex A:

          (1) the inventions claimed or described in the patents or applications,

          (2) any patents in the United States and anywhere else in the world and patent applications that have been or may be granted or filed, respectively, with respect to those inventions, including without limitation all foreign patents that may claim priority based on and correspond to the patents listed in Annex A,

          (3) all divisions, renewals, reissues, continuations, extensions, and continuations-in-part of the foregoing patents,

          (4) all income, royalties, damages, and payments due or payable to the Seller with respect to the patents, including without limitation unpaid damages and payments for past, present, and future infringements of any patent, and

          (5) all rights to xxx and recover damages and payments for past, present, and future infringements of any of the patents, including the right to fully and entirely replace the Seller in all related matters.

The foregoing rights in and under the patents shall apply to the full end of their terms as fully as the Seller would have held the same in the absence of this assignment. As of the date set forth below, the Purchaser has succeeded to all right, title, and standing of the Seller to (a) receive all rights and benefits pertaining to the patents described above, and (b) commence, prosecute, defend and settle all claims and take all actions that the Purchaser, in its sole discretion, may elect in relation to the patents and rights described above. This Patent Assignment (a) is irrevocable and effective upon the Seller’s signature to and delivery of a manually signed copy of this instrument or facsimile or email transmission of the signature to this instrument in connection with the Closing, if and only if the Closing is completed, (b) benefits and binds the parties to the Agreement and their respective successors and assignees, (c) does not modify or affect,

and is subject to, the provisions of the Agreement, and (d) may be signed in counterparts as provided in Section 12.12 of the Agreement.

The undersigned has signed this Patent Assignment on January 13, 2003.

Aether Systems, Inc.:

By:		/s/ Xxxxx X. Xxxx
Name:		Xxxxx X. Xxxx
Title:		Chief Executive Officer

STATE OF MARYLAND
CITY OF BALTIMORE

On                 before me, Xxxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx (the undersigned notary), personally appeared Xxxxx X. Xxxx personally known to me (or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence) to be the person(s) whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged to me that he/she/they executed the same in his/her/their authorized capacity(ies), and that by his/her/their signature(s) on the instrument the person(s), or the entity upon behalf of which the person(s) acted, executed the instrument.

WITNESS my hand and official seal.

[seal]

Xxxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx

Notary Public

Annex A

		FILING
TITLE		DATE		SERIAL #		ISSUE DATE		PATENT #		OWNER/DIVISION
REGISTERED U.S.
Method and System for Providing Formatted Information via a 2-Way Communication System						10/16/01		US6,304,746B1		Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Method and System for Conducting Real-Time Electronic Commerce						07/1/03		US6,587,838		Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Transmitting Updated Information						01/04/2000		6,011,954		Xxxx Technology Limited/EMS
REGISTERED FOREIGN
IFX/Datatransmission (Danish patent - ‘Fremgangsmade til transmission af data fra en sender til en xxxxx flere modtagere’)						1/13/1997		PR171571		Xxxx Technology Limited/EMS
IFX/Datatransmission (Registered EP1 - designated country: Germany)(‘A Method of Transmitting Data from a Transmitter to One or More Receivers’)						5/3/2000		EP 0731964		Xxxx Technology Limited/EMS
IFX/Datatransmission (Registered EP - designated country: France)(‘A Method of Transmitting Data from a Transmitter to One or More Receivers’)						5/3/2000		EP 0731964		Xxxx Technology Limited./EMS
IFX/Datatransmission (Registered EP - designated country: United Kingdom)(‘A Method of Transmitting Data from a Transmitter to One or More Receivers’)						5/3/2000		EP 0731964		Xxxx Technology Limited/EMS
PENDING U.S. APPLICATIONS
Method for Providing Vendor Notification Marketing in Electronic Communication Network		01/25/99		09/236,510						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Apparatus for Providing Vendor Notification		01/25/99		09/237,289						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Method and Apparatus for Storing Real-Time Text Messages		8/30/2001		09/941,582						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
System for Automated, Mid-Session, User-Directed, Device-to-Device Session Transfer System		9/17/2001		09/953,408						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS

¹ EP = European Patent

		FILING
TITLE		DATE		SERIAL #		ISSUE DATE		PATENT #		OWNER/DIVISION
Multikeyed Table Implementable on a Personal Digital Assistant System, Method and Computer Program Product for Providing		10/16/2000		09/688,160						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Server Discovery Services during a Startup Sequence		11/8/2000		09/707,960						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
System and Method for Re-Directing Requests from Browsers for Communication over Non-IP Based Networks		10/30/2000		09/698,181						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
System and Method for Developing Applications in Wireless and Wireline Environments		11/3/2000		09/704,535						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Site Mining Stylesheet Generator		12/15/2000		09/736,167						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Run-Time Engine Implemented on a Computing Device Allowing Synchronization of Records during Application Execution		10/16/2000		60/240,087						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Messaging Method and Apparatus for Sending and Receiving Messages in a Client Server Environment over Multiple Wireless and Wireline Networks		10/24/2000		09/694,297						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
System and Method to Publish Information from Servers to Remote Monitor Devices		1/24/2001		09/767,951						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
A System and Method for Servers to Send Alerts to Connectionless Devices		11/28/2000		09/723,285						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
A System, Method and Computer Program Product for Maintaining Program State over Wireless Networks that Dynamically Workload Balance Messages Across Multiple Servers		1/23/2001		09/767,266						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
A Method and System for Deploying Content to Wireless Devices		11/13/2000		09/709,487						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Messaging Method and Apparatus for Routing Messages in a Client Server Environment over Multiple Wireless and Wireline Networks		12/20/2000		09/739,844						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Messaging Method and Apparatus including a Protocol Stack that Corresponds Substantially to an Open System Interconnect (OSI) Model and Incorporates a Simple Network Transport Layer		12/20/2000		09/740,040						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Web Page Content Translator		11/8/2000		09/707,770						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
System, Method and Apparatus for Automatically and Dynamically Updating Options, Features, and/or Services Available to a Client Device		3/10/2000		09/523,168						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Service Chaining: a Mechanism for Optimizing the Invocation of Computer Based Services Deployed in a Distributed Computing Environment		12/27/2001		10/026,887						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
System for Efficiently Handling Cryptographic Messages Containing Nonce Values in a Wireless, Connectionless Environment without Compromising Security		8/21/2001		09/932,982						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS

		FILING
TITLE		DATE		SERIAL #		ISSUE DATE		PATENT #		OWNER/DIVISION
System and Method for Automated, Software-Based Session Coordination of Data into a Single Session Context		10/8/2002		10/265,740						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Run-Time Engine Implemented on a Computing Device Allowing Synchronization of Records during Application Execution		10/16/2001		09/977,686						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
System for a Configurable Open Database Connectivity Conduit		11/6/2001		09/985,879						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
System for an Open Architecture Development Platform with Centralized Synchronization		11/6/2001		09/985,878						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
System for a Run-Time Engine Capable for Pager Capable Remote Device		11/6/2001		09/985,880						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Routing Protocol Selection for an Ad Hoc Network		12/28/2001		10/028,267						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
System, Method and Apparatus for Utilizing Transaction Databases in a Client-Server Environment		10/11/2002		10/268,665						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
PENDING FOREIGN APPLICATIONS2
Run-time Engine Implemented on a Computing Device Allowing Synchronization of Records during Application Execution		10/16/2001		PCT/US01/32193						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
System for Optimizing the Invocation of Computer-Based Services Deployed in a Distributed Computer Environment		12/272002		PCT/US02/41492						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
Routing Protocol Selection for an Ad Hoc Network		12/27/2002		PCT/US02/41491						Aether Systems, Inc./EMS
IFX/Datatransmission (EP Application; divisional application based on EP 0731964)		12/2/1994						99202686.4		Xxxx Technology Limited/EMS
Xxxx (EP Application; EP regional phase of PCT/DK00/00363; ‘Method of Transmitting Data Items to a Number of Mobile Stations, a Mobile Station and a Storage Module’)		7/4/2000						00941946.6		Xxxx Technology Limited/EMS
Xxxx (EP Application; EP regional phase of PCT/DK00/00364; ‘Method of Transmitting Data Items to a Number of Mobile Stations, a Mobile Station and a Storage Module’)		7/4/2000						00941947.4		Xxxx Technology Limited/EMS
IFX -Danish Patent Application (divisional application based on Danish Patent No. PR171571)		7/20/1995						PA199500850		Xxxx Technology Limited/EMS
Xxxx - Norwegian Patent Application (national phase of PCT/DK00/00363)		7/4/2000						20016416		Xxxx Technology Limited/EMS
Xxxx - Norwegian Patent Application (national phase of PCT/DK00/00364)		7/4/2000						20016421		Xxxx Technology Limited/EMS

² In December 2003 foreign patent counsel submitted paperwork to the relevant patent registries to record the change in name from Xxxx Technology Limited to Aether Technology Limited, for those patent applications listed in this section as being owned by Xxxx Technology Limited.