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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."
Wait, you mean they've been lying to me all along? So much for patents promoting progress!
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.
Err no that's New Zealand. :-)
There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
The CSIRO I dare say want to make sure they don't lose the rights to the technology they developed and I dont blame them. Many large companies have already made it clear they will do anything to (even if its illegal) strip the CSIRO of its patent right to technologies that are part of WiFi because they want a "free ride". The real issue here is not the CSIRO but the companies trying to leverage the technology out of their hands. Im not surprised in the least that this loggerhead has been created by the "we dont want to pay for patents even though we force everyone else to do the same" multinationals.
Time and time again we hear that patents are an economic necessity. People and organizations won't invest in new technologies if they can't exploit them for a profit later on, and all that. But we rarely hear economists and businesspeople talk about the economic loss that patents bring.
This is just one example. Now the public may very well be deprived of this new technology just because of these patent concerns. So in a very resource-wasteful move, we may very well need to derive another technology that duplicates 802.11n, not for any technical reason, but just to satisfy the legal conditions of a mere document. That's clearly harmful for the economy as a whole. Those resources could have been put towards developing new technologies, rather than reimplementing what already existed.
"In May the Wi-Fi Alliance got so bored waiting for the IEEE to complete the standard"
I know it's harder to figure out anthromorphism doesn't apply to organisations, since they're made out of people, but can you honestly imagine the following in the documents: "Today we voted to start delivering draft-based wifi kits, because we were bored".
If you'll look for reasons, look for logistics, money, deadlines and contracts.
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).
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
.. lets choose a different standard then and let them live in their own island :)
http://www.rense.com/general79/wdx1.htm
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
CSIRO owns patents on pretty much all common wireless technology deployed today. It owns these patents because it developed the technologies. Currently CSIRO is actively trying to get other companies to actually honor its legitimate patents not just for "n" but the existing 802.11x standards as well.
These are real patents that lay the mathematical/technological foundation for how pretty much all wireless networking works currently. Saying that CSIRO has no right to defend these patents would be like saying CISCO is morally obliged to give away all their routers because we all depend on the internet and we need routers for the internet to work.
So is this yet another example of using patents to retard the "progress of science and the useful arts"?
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
I've been using 802.11n on all my home computers for months now.
No, you haven't... You are using an implementation of a not yet approved standard that could become 802.11n. The "standard" may still change and you may be able to upgrade your hardware with a firmware upgrade if that happens. However, the manufacturer of your gear is in no way obliged to do so, after all, it couldn't sell it as 802.11n gear, since the 802.11n standard isn't yet accepted.
A standard, by definition, does not change....New revisions may come out, but once it's out, it doesn't change. To put it in version numbers: you use 802.11n version 0.9beta, the standard will be 802.11n version 1.0.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Depends on who you ask. Ask an Australian and they say it's the folks from New Zealand. Ask the folks from New Zealand and they say it's the Australians.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
According to the constitution, patents are only alowed in order to encourage "science and the useful arts". How granting corporations the right to fuck over other coproprations who came up with rather ordinary improvements on the "art" at nearly the same time helps improve the "uesful arts" is someting for head-up-their-ass lawyers to ponder. Because in the end of the day it doesn't matter in the USA anymore if you're right. IT doesn't matter if you have actually come up with womething new. If'you've bought youreself the best lawyer end/or congressman then you can pretty much do what you want.
As an American whose tax dollars fund (D)ARPA, I demand payback from all other nations using the Internet. Also, I think the good citizens of California whose tax dollars helped fund BSD would like some too.
Patents exist to pay the fixed cost of invention by granting a temporary monopoly. The other option to cover the fixed cost is subsidy. Publicly funded research organizations like the CSIRO work based on the subsidy method. The cost is paid by the public, so the public should have use of the invention. The only question here is whether Australia is going to act like other nations where public means WORLD (considering the actions of ARPA, UC Berkeley, and INRIA), or whether they're going to be dicks.
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.
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To boil this down, CSIRO invented the schemes to make 802.11n work.
No. CSIRO invented the schemes. IEEE members developed 802.11N using the schemes, believing CSIRO would cooperate. If that had ever been in doubt, the standard would have been developed along different lines, avoiding CSIRO's patents.
Whether this is a misunderstanding or a ploy by CSIRO will eventually be clear, but to suggest that the companies supporting the standard are trying to cheat CSIRO out of royalties it deserves is either naive or disingenuous.
I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.