22 Companies Sued Over Wi-Fi Patents

Newer Guy writes "Wi-LAN, another patent holding company, has sued 22 companies that make or sell wireless routers. Defendants include Apple. Atheros, Belkin, Best Buy, Buffalo, Dell, HP, Intel, and Lenovo. Wi-LAN has a portfolio of more than 280 issued or pending patents." Of course the two patent suits were filed in Marshall, Texas.

Comments

Hasn't this been tried before

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't some other company try this business model. Wasn't the name something like SCO? Does anyone remember that company? =)

Patent Farmer..

[moogied]

These patents sure are coming in nice this year pa..

You're damned right they are boy! I bought them from some very smart people!

Pa, why don't we license them out then?

Because boy, its easier to just hold them in waiting until we think we can rob enough companies! If we license, we have to manage it! If we just sue, its a one time deal..

Pa...

Why are you the anti-christ?

Re:And again

[__NR_kill]

Your lack of geography education scares me. Canada was part of America, last I checked.

Re:Rather Telling

[Mix Master Nixon]

Litigation WEBCAST? That's greasy. Available in RealPlayer format, how appropriate.

Blame Canada! :)

[Tiger Smile]

Canada paid for the patents. Blame them. it's time the US has a "War On Canada"! Why not? The US dollar is shrinking fast, and the Canadian dollar is looking better and better. We need to tap into that. I say they're hiding Weapons Of Mass Litigation, or WMLs! Canada give up your WML, or we of the US will get on the web, try and figure out where in the world you are and who your leads are, followed by a "Mission Accomplished" photo op, then a little "Shock and Awe" and to save time we'll install shredders at the US Treasury too. You don't want to mess with the US, we're armed with pure unfiltered stupidity, and you can't argue with that! :)

Re:And again

[dekemoose]

From the article:
"...funeral homes. "We have seven. Four for blacks and three for whites," Ms. Mauthe said, matter-of-factly."

Jesus Christ! It's 2007 and these people are still segregating their funeral homes? WTF!?!

Re:Good!

[slyn]

Only if those big corporations are losing more money to patent trolls than they are gaining through their own patent litigation (or via the market exclusion that their patents afford them). The problem is that the big companies generally benefit from the current patent system overall, even if sometimes they have to pay some small troll.

Reminds me of:

Edward Norton: A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

Woman: Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?

Norton: You wouldn't believe.

Woman: Which car company do you work for?

Norton: A major one.

Re:And again

[Epsillon]

There is no continent called "America."

Does this mean that America is incontinent? :-)

Re:And again

[Nullav]

Well of course! Think of the racist corpses and how they feel about it.