* More drama in the wireless patent quagmire
ArrayComm vs. Atheros. Motorola vs. Aruba Networks. Broadcom vs. Qualcomm.
There has been quite a bit of recent litigation over intellectual property in the wireless industry. The latest is an injunction win by Australia’s government research organization, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organization (CSIRO), over Buffalo Technology.
CSIRO’s victory was awarded for infringement of patents CSIRO said are part of the 802.11a and 802.11g standards. CSIRO also has similar suits against several other vendors.
The CSIRO-Buffalo case has fueled reports that the progress of 802.11n standards ratification might be in jeopardy, for example. Some in the industry have inferred that if CSIRO has essential patent technology for 802.11a/g, it must have it for 802.11n, too. But that has not yet officially been determined, according to sources.
The IEEE invites participants to come to the table with their ideas and technology, throw them all into a pot, and collectively turn them into a set of standards using the technology pieces that the group deems superior. The IEEE asks everyone involved throughout the process whether they hold patents that might apply to the standard, requesting Letters of Assurance (LOA) in which patent holders describe how they will treat intellectual property that ends up in a standard. The IEEE encourages the treatment of such intellectual property to be on a “reasonable and nondiscriminatory” basis.
There have been cases in the past, however, when an IEEE vendor participant has gone through the whole standards process and remained mum, letting numerous vendors go on to build products, and then going after the companies for patent infringement after the fact. Obviously, this kind of tactic is not in the best interest of industry progress or end users.
So far, CSIRO has not filed an LOA with regard to 802.11n, but it has until the date the board votes to ratify the standard to file, and that date is about a year away. And it has filed LOAs for 802.11a, which might by itself suffice.
So for now, this could be much ado about nothing. Says 802 chair Paul Nikolich: “I’m optimistic that this will not delay 802.11n.”
