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CSIRO Wireless Patent Reaffirmed In US Court

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the i-was-here-first-nyah-nyah dept.

An anonymous reader writes ""The CSIRO has won a landmark US legal battle against Buffalo Technology, under which it could receive royalties from every producer of wireless local area network (WLAN) products worldwide." From the article: "The patent, granted to CSIRO in 1996, encompasses elements of the 802.11a/g wireless technology that is now an industry standard. It stems from a system developed by CSIRO in the early '90s, 'to exchange large amounts of information wirelessly at high speed, within environments such as offices and homes,' said a CSIRO spokeswoman."

4 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. Re:sucks to be them... by lightyear4 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    why would those utilizing the technology be sued? surely the manufacturers of such equipment are those most directly affected?

  2. If the CSIRO had any balls.. by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Insightful

    they would use this finding to stop the manufacture of all infringing devices in the world, except the ones that are made in Australia. Seeing as the charter of the CSIRO is to produce research which exclusively benefits Australian business, that's what they should be doing.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  3. Re:Looks like a legit patent.... by RingDev · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Thanks for the links. My fear initially was that this was just another craptastic submarine patent.

    But here's a question. 802.11a has been a standard a long time, in development long before its acceptance. Why is it that the patents that apply to the technology that this standard is based off just NOW coming to light? Why were patent/royalty issue not brought up in 1999 or earlier?

    It seems kind of shady to me to wait until after the standard was released (1999), after wide spread US adoption (2001), after world wide adoption (2003), until years later when the technology is so prolific that companies that have based their entire success on the technologies covered by the patents have no option to change to a non-infringing technology. Or has this been a 7+ year long court case?

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  4. Re:CSIRO Patents are a good thing by MEGAMAID · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, we'd get them back indirectly. The CSIRO has stated in their press release that they plan to use any money from royalty payments to fund further research. This means that we, the taxpayers, don't have to.

    --

    Waking Up - There must be a better way to start the day.