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...

[donaldm]

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.

Money will make it happen

[bl8n8r]

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

Re:Fury...building...

[MichaelSmith]

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.

Re:Fury...building...

[Verte]

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.