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802.11n May Never Happen Due to Patent Concerns

Posted by Zonk on from the aiming-for-the-airwaves dept.

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."

10 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Fury...building... by Xiroth · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Grabrabagelgra. What the hell are they thinking? Yes, extra income for the CSIRO is handy, but they do not put that ahead of the common good - otherwise, what the hells is the point of a publicly funded research organisation?

    Grah. While I'm all in favour of having Liberal (Australian right-leaning major party) stints to keep the economy chugging, this country really has been governed by the right too long - all of our public services are becoming too money-obsessed.

    1. Re:Fury...building... by donaldm · · Score: 3, Interesting

      CSIRO is a government body and even if companies start paying royalties CSIRO will see very little of it since it will go into consolidated revenue which hopefully will go to bribing (damn I cant find the ^H key) the voter with tax breaks.

      Australia (read Government of the day) has for many years believed in what is called the "level playing field" the problem was Australia was always at the bottom, now the "shoe is on the other foot" the Government is a little confused especially since they should be pushing for royalties. It must be noted that CSIRO does not set royalties that is up to the Australian Government.

      --
      There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
    2. Re:Fury...building... by badfish99 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      But it's a risky strategy for the CSIRO. If the standard never takes off, everyone will stick with 802.11g until some other, completely different, standard comes along. So perhaps the greedy people at CSIRO will get nothing, and will starve.

    3. Re:Fury...building... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Probably no worse off than in the States

      Maybe. There is an old meme over here about clever research work which only gets commercialised when it leaves the country. The classic example is the black box flight recorder which was invented in Australia, but never earned much money for this country.

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

      As far as living here goes, I know a few people from the USA who have migrated to Australia. They seem happy with the environment, but they lose a lot in the transition. It can be hard to buy a good house in Australia now if you sell up in the US and bring your money with you.

      It is hard for me to give a better comparison than that, because I have only ever lived in one country.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    4. Re:Fury...building... by Verte · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I hope the Australian government realizes that fact. I had the opportunity to speak with Labor's second in command, Julia Gillard, a few weeks ago. Of course the main issues I bought up with her were government transparency and copyright reform. Somehow, it didn't surprise me that she had never heard any such issues discussed. Not one person had bought them up. People seem more bothered about that house they bought when interest rates were 2% [now floating around the 7-8% mark?]. I guess I can see where they are coming from, of course, but while they have been distracted, we've been losing the battle on other fronts.

      So no, they don't realise this fact, because the Australian public don't seem to care, or those that do are scared of politics.
      --
      We at slashdot are scientists, specialists and kernel hackers. Your FUD will be found out.
    5. Re:Fury...building... by TheVelvetFlamebait · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I've always felt that Australia has fine government transparency. I saw a link in a Slashdot post that ranked the governmental transparency over 150 countries out of 10. I can't remember the exact site, but I remember we came 7th. Not too bad, huh? Especially so when you consider that government opacity only provides potential for abuse, rather than the abuse itself.

      Basically, my question is: why are you concerned about government transparency in Australia?

      --
      You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
  2. Money will make it happen by bl8n8r · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is probably just a way for CSIRO to saying they don't hear enough ching in the bling.

    --
    boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
  3. Re:Wasted work by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 2, Interesting

    >So, why are companies even allowed to submit a standard without such a letter? Seems like a recipe for wasting work that you allow a standardization process to even start without assurances from all stakeholders that they'll not interfere with it becoming a standard (i.e. that anyone can implement).

    Strictly speaking, companies do not submit work to the IEEE, individuals do. IEEE 802 rules states clearly that people attend as individuals.

    Entities with patents essential to standards are encouraged to submit LOAs.

    The article is BS. LOAs are not a promise not to sue. They are a promise to license such patents under RAND (Reasonable And Non Discriminatory) terms.

    --
    Evil people are out to get you.
  4. Re:Can't we just be like China? by a.ameri · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's not that simple. The WTO takes IP very seriously and holds it dear in his heart; and it does have the power (and the precedence) to put heavy fines or sanctions (not that we are going to put US on embargo anytime soon) in cases of non conformance with its rules. You can't just ignor international IP, unless you want to ignore international trade all together

    Besides, why should you want to ignore the issue here? This is not a patent-mongering Eolas-like VC-funded private company or a 1-click patent we are talking about. CSIRO put serious effort in early 90s and came up with genuine inventions for wireless data communications; technologies used by nearly all variants of the 802.11 family. CSIRO has tried to play fair, they have not resorted to lawsuits regarding 802.11b and 802.11g (hats-off to them); but they are yet to receive any sort of return from wireless device manufacturers. Why is it so hard for Cisco, D-Link, HP, and other manufacturers who have made billions selling wireless technologies to actually pay a reasonable fee and buy the patents from CSIRO?

    It is sad to see that software related and other ludicrous patents filed in the US every day are making slashdot hostile to genuine inventions of technologies with reasonable royalty demands.

    --
    -- /* Those who don't underestand Unix, are condemned to reinvent it poorly */
  5. Re:IEEE vs CSIRO by statusbar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If CSIRO has pending issues with companies violating their existing patents on 802.11G, then why would IEEE believe that 802.11N would be any different?

    --jeffk++

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    ipv6 is my vpn