{"id":504,"date":"2009-04-25T21:28:58","date_gmt":"2009-04-26T01:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbachnet.wwwmi3-ss40.a2hosted.com\/?p=504"},"modified":"2022-12-30T12:11:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T17:11:17","slug":"wi-fi-settlement-to-cost-billions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wi-fi-settlement-to-cost-billions\/","title":{"rendered":"Wi-Fi Settlement to Cost Billions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wi-Fi<\/a>Australia’s<\/strong> national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO<\/a><\/strong>) has won its Wi-Fi patent troll case. They confirmed (4-22-09) that the patent cases<\/strong> heard in the Eastern District Court of Texas<\/strong><\/a> as concluded “successfully.” CSIRO sued most of the tech world over its claim of inventing the technology behind Wi-Fi<\/strong> Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/a>CSIRO claims to have patented core elements of the technology used in 802.11a and 802.11g<\/strong> wireless devices. “CSIRO has negotiated settlement with each of the 14 companies involved in four concurrent litigation cases,<\/em>” the agency said in a statement. “The commercial terms of the settlements with these companies will remain confidential.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

Wi-Fi patent claim<\/h3>\n

The CSIRO first applied for the US patent in 1993. It was awarded US patent number 5,487,069<\/a>, entitled “Wireless LAN” on 23 January 1996. The patent describes a “peer-to-peer wireless LAN” that can operate in the kind of multi-path environment created by radio echoes in typical office buildings. It includes three ways to get high-speed transmission despite the hostile conditions in an office environment. First, they describe transmitting over a relatively large number of parallel sub-channels within the available bandwidth so that each channel has a low bit rate. Second, the patent describes transmitting data in small packets with forward error correction (FEC) and using interleaving. These concepts are all featured in descriptions of the 802.11 physical layer CISRO claims to have patented core elements of the technology used in 802.11a, 802.11g, and 802.11n wireless devices.<\/p>\n

\"negotiated<\/a>CSIRO has previously said that its patent allowed speed increases up to a factor of five over previous WLANs. They claimed to have, “offered licenses on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms to major suppliers as soon as they started selling devices which used the CSIRO technology.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

However, troubles began following the Cisco<\/a><\/strong> (CSCO<\/a>) acquisition of Radiata<\/a> from Macquarie University<\/a>. The university had carried out for the purpose of commercializing CSIRO’s technology. Now CSIRO claims the work forms a key part of commonly used Wi-Fi products<\/p>\n

The CSIRO filed Wi-Fi patent infringement suits against 3Com<\/a>, Accton<\/a> (2345<\/a>), ASUS<\/a> (2357<\/a>), Belkin<\/a>, D-Link<\/a> (DLINK<\/a>), Fujitsu<\/a> (6702<\/a>), Marvell<\/a> (MRVL<\/a>), (manufacturers of\u00a0Apple’s<\/a> (AAPL<\/a>) iPod<\/a>), Nintendo<\/a> (7978)<\/a>, SMC<\/a> and Toshiba<\/a> (TOSBF<\/a>). Several large technology vendors bit back – with \u00a0Apple, Dell<\/a> (DELL<\/a>), HP<\/a> (HPQ<\/a>), Intel<\/a> (INTC<\/a>),\u00a0Microsoft<\/a> (MSFT<\/a>), and Netgear<\/a> (NTGR<\/a>) bringing cases against CSIRO in trying to have the patent invalidated.<\/p>\n

In June 2007, the CSIRO won a case in the U.S. Federal Court<\/strong> against Japanese manufacturer Buffalo Technologies<\/a>. This win is the basis the firm has used to demand royalties<\/strong> from a broader set of manufacturers that market Wi-Fi<\/a> equipment.<\/p>\n

As the case has played out in the last few weeks in and out of the Texas court, CSIRO struck individual deals with its adversary’s including; Dell<\/a>, Fujitsu<\/a>, HP<\/a>, Intel<\/a>, and Microsoft<\/a><\/p>\n

HP was the first to settle on 04-02-09. CSIRO spokesperson Huw Morgan said, “CSIRO can confirm that a settlement has been reached with Hewlett-Packard Company in relation to the wireless patent case.<\/em>” Mr. Morgan continued\u00a0 in the Sydney Morning Herald<\/a><\/em>, “There will be no further comment at this time due to confidentiality and ongoing litigation.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

\"Fujitsu<\/a>Fujitsu Computer Systems Corp. was dismissed by the Court with prejudice in the first court-approved settlement to emerge in the case on April 8. The terms of the settlement remain confidential.<\/p>\n

PC manufacturer Asus and Microsoft separately settled their lawsuits with the CSIRO on 04-14-09 terms of the settlement were not disclosed. CSIRO had accused Microsoft of wrongfully using its patent. Microsoft was seeking a ruling of non-infringement for the wireless technology included in the Xbox<\/a> video-game system.<\/p>\n

\"Microsoft<\/a>Intel and Dell also settled on 04-19-09 for undisclosed and confidential terms.<\/p>\n

Accton Technology Corp., SMC Networks, Belkin Corp. and Belkin International, Inc., D-Link Systems, Inc., Netgear, Inc., Nintendo of America, Inc., Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., and 3Com Corp., announced on 4-20-09 that they had reached a settlement with CSIRO.<\/p>\n

Cisco<\/a> and its Linksys<\/a> division aren’t on CSIRO’s list. Cisco agreed to patent terms<\/a> when it acquired an Australian network authentication firm a few years ago. Apple dropped out in December 2006.<\/p>\n

Dr. Alex Zelinsky, director of the CSIRO ICT Center<\/a> confirmed that all CSIRO opponents had chosen to settle the wireless case. CSIRO deputy chief of operations Mike Whelan said that the terms of the settlement would remain strictly confidential. Dr. Zelinsky speculated to ITNews<\/a><\/em>, however, that the payoff could be worth upwards from $100 million up to a billion dollars and keep royalty payment flowing into the agency for up to a decade.<\/p>\n

Timeline <\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n