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Patent firm sues Asus, Dell, Intel, RIM and others over WiFi
PATENT FIRM Mosaid has filed a lawsuit against some of the biggest names in technology claiming infringement of WiFi patents held by the firm.
Mosaid Technologies, which bills itself as "one of the world's leading intellectual property companies", has filed a lawsuit against 17 firms including Asustek, Canon, Dell, Huawei, Intel, Lexmark, Marvell and Research in Motion, claiming the companies infringe its patents by manufacturing and flogging devices with WiFi connectivity.
In its complaint, Mosaid claimed the fingered parties had "infringed and continue to infringe Mosaid's patents by making and selling products that comply with or implement the IEEE 802.11 family of communications standards, known as Wi-Fi". The patents in question are U.S. Patent Nos. 5,131,006; 5,151,920; 5,422,887; 5,706,428; 6,563,786 B1; and 6,992,972.
John Lindgren, president and CEO of Mosaid said, "We believe that all companies offering products that implement the WiFi standard require a license to our wireless patents." He added that since 2008, Mosaid had licensed its patents to 15 companies, though given that Lindgren is claiming that all companies that offer WiFi products require a license from Mosaid, just 15 sales and claims against a further 17 companies seems a bit low.
Some of the patents in question date back over two decades and generally they relate to low-level telecommunications technology.
If Mosaid manages to make its lawsuit stick, it could well be in for quite a windfall, not only from the firms named in the lawsuit but from many others that, as Lindgren put it, offer "products that implement the WiFi standard". µ
Tags: Software
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Anyone who's read any fantasy novels knows that the proper way to deal with trolls is to delay them away from their home cave until they light of day turns them to stone, which kills them.
Alternatively phrased, trolls should be stoned to death.
I see no reason this logic should not be applied to patent trolls as well as all other varieties.
@LoCatus, yes, Dell, Asus and RIM did not make their own chips, there is a possibility that they are being sue because of the design, not because of the chips.
Atheros, Broadcomm or Marvell surely did not infringe any patent, but using this chip and designing the WiFi circuit around this chip, may possibly infringe some patents. It all goes down to the OEM manufacturer that design the board and WiFi circuit to settle, unless the contract did not include an indemnification clause.
An underlying patent on all WiFi? Talk about valuable property -- especially since President Obama is talking about making WiFi generally available throughout the US.
http://smallbusiness.aol.com/2010/05/10/how-to-file-a-patent/
If people don't manufacture anything their idea should be without rights after a few years.
And not like it is now, wait until everybody uses it and then sue them.
This entire patent stuff is holding technology back!!
Kill that stupid system.
Not sure about Intel...
But when did Dell, Asus and RIM start making their own WiFi chips? Sure. the bits are on their boards for WiFi, but they buy them from somewhere else.
So going after the OEM's for using the chips is wrong. Should be asking licensing fees from the company(s) making and selling the chips.
Well, it's a thought...
Hang on - patents more than twenty years old, doesn't that mean that they've expired?
Also, did it take these people this long to notice that "Wi-Fi" (sic) was catching on?