WiFi Patent Infringement - Wi-Lan Sues 22 Companies (Apple, Sony, Dell, HP)

Wi-Lan is continuing to protect its intellectual property, extended its legal battle to 22 additional companies for not paying royalties for the wireless standard. Among the company being sued are Apple, Dell, Sony, Hewlett Packard and Intel.

Wi-Lan has the patents to 100 or more software programming instructions that are basic to making wireless communications viable both in the cellphone area and in the computer and peripheral communications area.

“Wi-Lan sued the companies in two separate actions in U.S. District Court in East Texas. The alleged infringement involved patents related to Wi-Fi technology and power consumption technology in DSL products,” Information Week explained.

“The defendants include chip suppliers, equipment vendors, and electronic retailers, including Best Buy and Circuit City. Wi-Lan claims the defendants made and/or sold various products using the patented technology. Those products included wireless routers, modems and notebooks.”

As wireless expands to blanket cities via the new WiMax, this is going to be even more important. They will enforce royalty collections on these patents; wireless is a growing business, and they have the royalty rights to the basic protocol.

They also took over a little company called Tri_vision that developed the software that controls the V-Chip (parental control for censuring TV programming to protect kids from viewing adult content, something that has become mandatory.) All manufacturers and even internet broadcasters of video are subject to the royalty stream.

The Yahoo Groups Wi-LAN Forum Major development posted an informative press release from Marketwire:

November 1, 2007 - 07:00:04 AM
Wi-LAN Initiates Litigation for Patent Infringement

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 1, 2007) - Wi-LAN Inc. (TSX:WIN)
“(’Wi-LAN’) has initiated litigation against 22 major companies in two actions.The companies include chip suppliers, equipment vendors and electronics retailers. They are: Acer Inc., Apple Inc., Atheros Communications Inc., Belkin International Inc., Best Buy Co. Inc., Broadcom Corporation, BuffaloTechnology (USA) Inc., Circuit City Stores, Inc., Dell Inc., D-Link Corporation, Gateway Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Infineon Technologies AG, Intel Corporation, Lenovo Group Ltd., Marvell Semiconductor Inc., Netgear Inc., Sony Corporation, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Toshiba Corporation, Westell Technologies Inc., and 2Wire Inc. The suits have been commenced in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division.

“In its filings, Wi-LAN claims that these companies have infringed and continue to infringe Wi-LAN’s U.S. patent nos. 5,282,222, RE37,802 and 5,956,323 by making and/or selling various products, including wireless routers, modems and personal notebook computers that use. These patents are related to Wi-Fi and to power consumption in DSL products.

“‘Wi-LAN has successfully negotiated patent licensing deals with a number of companies covering a broad range of patent families and technologies,’ said Jim Skippen, President & CEO. ‘Our existing licensing agreements are a strong endorsement of the strength and validity of our valuable patent portfolio. While we prefer to resolve patent infringement through business discussions, we have consistently maintained that litigation was always a possibility when negotiations do not result in a license within a reasonable time.’

“Wi-LAN will be represented in this action by McKool Smith, a leading U.S. law firm specializing in intellectual property litigation. McKool Smith has successfully defended the patent rights of many high profile companies. The firm has conducted litigation throughout the U.S. and has particular expertise in the Eastern District of Texas, where Wi-LAN has filed these two actions.

“Wi-LAN has a large and growing portfolio of more than 280 issued or pending patents.”

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