Gainesville Computer Repair: Mosaid gets into WiFi patent game, sues 17 companies including Dell, Canon, Asus, and RIM

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Mosaid gets into WiFi patent game, sues 17 companies including Dell, Canon, Asus, and RIM

MOSAID Files Wireless Patent Infringement Litigation OTTAWA, Ontario - March 17, 2011 - MOSAID Technologies Inc. (TSX:MSD) today announced that it has initiated wireless patent infringement litigation against the following companies: AsusTek Computer Inc.; Atheros Communications, Inc.; Canon U.S.A., Inc.; CSR plc; Dell, Inc.; Digi International Inc.; Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.; Intel Corporation; Lexmark International, Inc.; Marvell Semiconductor, Inc.; Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.; Ralink Technology Corporation; Realtek Semiconductor; Research in Motion Corporation; Wasp Barcode Technologies, Ltd.; Wistron Corporation; and Venture Research, Inc. The suit was filed on March 16, 2011 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. MOSAID believes that the companies have 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 standards-essential patents in suit are MOSAID's U.S. Patent Nos. 5,131,006; 5,151,920; 5,422,887; 5,706,428; 6,563,786 B1; and 6,992,972.

Whether or not you agree with their tactics, lots of companies are finding it quite lucrative business to spend more time in the courts than in the research labs. CSIRO got some tasty settlements back in 2009, while just a few months ago Wi-LAN received "a significant amount" in a settlement from Intel. Now it's Mosaid's turn, a Kanata, Ontario-based company that bills itself as "one of the world's leading intellectual property (IP) companies, focused on the licensing and development of semiconductor and communications technologies." Indeed it just licensed some of those properties to LG on the 15th, but the very next day it filed suit against a 17 defendants for infringing on six of the company's patents, relating to network discovery, multiplexing, and other wireless techniques. Among those companies is RIM; which has its Torch, Style, Curve, Pearl, Bold, Storm handsets called out; and Asus, which has a long line of motherboards, routers, and other products said to be in jeopardy. As ever it's hard to draw the line between the patent trolls and the legitimately infringed, but that the lawsuit was filed in litigation-friendly Marshall, Texas doesn't leave us with a particularly good feeling.

Continue reading Mosaid gets into WiFi patent game, sues 17 companies including Dell, Canon, Asus, and RIM

Mosaid gets into WiFi patent game, sues 17 companies including Dell, Canon, Asus, and RIM originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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