802.11n May Never Happen Due to Patent Concerns

afabbro writes "The Register is reporting that the 802.11n standard is imperiled because the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization has refused to submit a Letter of Assurance, promising not to sue those who implement the standard. '...the realization that CSIRO holds essential patents, and has failed to provide a Letter of Assurance as required by the IEEE, could prevent the standard ever being finalized ... 802.11n promises to deliver a fivefold increase in speed, and double the range of 802.11g. Indeed in many cases it's already delivering something approximating that, as pre-standard kit has been available for almost a year. In May the Wi-Fi Alliance got so bored waiting for the IEEE to complete the standard that they started certifying kit as conforming to the draft, even though the final version isn't expected until 2008."

Comments

Re:Fury...building...

[ozmanjusri]

Because we are a small country we do tend to hold on to assets like this a little bit tighter. Or try to, anyway.

"Try to" being the operative phrase.

CSIRO filed the patent on OFDM in 1992, and informed IEEE in 1997 that the method was patented and would attract royalties. American businesses including Lucent, Cisco and HP have ignored CSIRO's request for companies using the technology (which took 8 years to develop) to license IP rights.

Hypocrisy runs deep in big business.