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Intermec Claims RFID is Proprietary
seeks2know writes "Line56.com reports that Intermec is claiming patents on RFID chips, readers, and tags. They have launched their first lawsuit against Matrics. They seek to sell licenses to all RFID manufacturers. Erik Michielsen of ABI Research states '...this definitely clouds the UHF Generation 2 standards discussions and is fueling considerable animosity in the industry.'
Interestingly, the patents that Intermec is claiming were acquired in their acquisition of IBM's RFID laboratory in December, 1997. Another case of a submarine patent strategy?"
Can the government claim eminent domain over patents or other IP?
They did it with the airplane in order to make use of it during WWI. Must have pissed off the Wright brothers something fierce when their patents were rendered useless during that time, but it contributed to the birth of the commercial aircraft industry.
If anyone is interested, here is a list of the Intermec's patents that contain the term "RFID". Posted anonymously to not seem to much like a karma whore. Enjoy.
A submarine patent is where you keep the patent in it's application phase, then at some later point, after being rejected several times and requesting re-examininations, adding specifics based on the current state of the market. Then you get to see how an industry shapes up, but you still get the benefit of the early patent applicaiton date.
Patents are good for 20 years from the date of applcation now, an attempt to keep submarine patents from getting too out of hand.
One other FYI, you generally only have about 6 years after you find out someone is infringing on your patent to begin litigation over the infringment. To just sit on it for more than 6 years exposes you to defenses of laches.
This is not a case of using "submarine patent strategy". Submarining requires that the patentee drag out the process over several years by filing continuation after continuation. Then allowing the submarine to surface just before attempting litigation. Although the parent maybe published, it is hard for other inventors to know what is patented because new claims can be introduced in the children (which are unpublished) that automatically claim the priority of the parent patent.
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Thus this is not a case of submarining because:
1) All continuations filed have been abandoned or published (granted) couple years ago.
2) All patents involved have been granted within the last 6 or so years. No way to hide any claims.
The patents invoved are listed in this RFID journal article.
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/arti
And if you don't believe me you can always look up the status data here:
http://pair.uspto.gov/cgi-bin/final/home.p
My initial instincts says something is fishy, especially since EPC global members agree to certain terms on entering the group (offering reasonable licenses or technology royalty free to promote RFID.) Unfortunately, if you read both articles, you will see this has the potential to screw with the standards (especially UHF Gen 2) that EPC Global and its members have been working hard to come out with.
Whats even fishier is that Intermec has representatives on the EPC Global HAG. Hmm why does this sound familiar?
Okay, first of all I am biased, because I work for Intermec (in wireless LANs, not RFID though).
Disclaimer aside, you're exactly right, this is not meant to be a submarine patent. We have put a lot of time and money into R&D and want to protect that investment. However, we did not wait until it was late and adopted, and then create some rediculous premise for suing the pants off everybody.
The strategy the company is trying to take is that of fair licensing to all who wish to use the technology.
I know the Slashdot crowd will likely rake me over the coals for stating all of this, saying we are just evil and greedy. However, we are a R&D-driven company, and it helps pay my paycheck.
Here you go. http://www.eetimes.com/article/printableArticle.jh tml?articleID=12803964&url_prefix=story&sub_taxono myID=2251
everything in moderation