As if there weren't enough patent lawsuits flying around the telecommunications industry, Wi-LAN announced Thursday it has filed suit against 22 companies.
Wi-LAN, a Canadian wireless network vendor, is suing the companies in two separate actions for allegedly violating three of its patents. The patents, which are registered as numbers 5,282,222, RE37802, and 5,956,323, deal primarily with Wi-Fi technology and power-saving technology for DSL products.
Among the companies named in the suit are such industry heavyweights as Dell, Apple, Gateway, HP, Intel, and Toshiba. The company said in a statement that it wants the defendants to sign licensing agreements with Wi-LAN for the rights to use its technology.
"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, Wi-LAN's president and CEO. "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."
In a conference call today, Skippen said that one of the reasons why Wi-LAN felt the need to sue so many companies at once was that "suing additional defendants" would not "significantly increase the cost of litigation," as there are "significant economies of scale in suing multiple defendants on the same time." He also said that the company wanted to bring "maximum pressure" on the defendants to reach settlements.
Wi-LAN is no stranger to patent litigation, as the company sued Cisco in 2004 for violating its Wi-Fi patents. The parties settled the suit in 2005, when Cisco agreed to purchase some of the Wi-LAN patents, and to pay royalties for the rights to use the rest.
Network World is an InfoWorld affiliate.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts
This white paper provides guidance on how to develop a strategic approach to managing and monitoring logs, a key function required for compliance with many regulatory mandates and a critical defense against security threats.
Download now! »
Learn about the processes and technologies that support security information management (SIM) operations, as well as the business case for SIM. The series examines different options for implementing SIM and gives you evaluation criteria for selecting the best option for your organization.
Download now! »
Learn the strategies, actions, and capabilities that Best-in-Class organizations employ and technologies they choose to obtain superior performance against various security performance metrics. This report provides guidelines for identifying which security solutions to consume as a MSS and defines best practices for choosing and managing MSSPs.
Download now! »
Recommend This
