British chip firm CSR ends wireless patent battle

UK FIRM CSR, which specialises in single-chip Bluetooth devices, has ended its dispute with the licensing company WiLan over patents.

The dispute was settled out of court, with CSR and WiLan reaching an agreement that gives CSR a license to WiLan's patent portfolio. The financial terms haven't been disclosed, but it might be a relief for CSR to have avoided a lengthy legal battle.

WiLan has been fighting on many fronts recently, said Reuters, with the CSR deal being its sixth out of court settlement in quick succession. Back in January, it reached a huge deal with Intel to end a dispute concerning over 1,000 WiLan wireless patents.

Since 1992, WiLan has licensed inventions that it owns patents on for use by companies like Cisco, Nokia and Samsung. It says over 240 companies have already negotiated patent licences for WiLan technology.

But the nature of WiLan's business creates difficulties, with the firm having to file lawsuits against various companies for patent infringement. CSR was one of these companies, but the deal means that particular litigation will end.

Presumably Cambridge-based CSR can now get back to the business of creating products. At last week's Mobile World Congress it showed off work it is doing with wireless audio platforms and Bluetooth Android software. µ