On their site they mention that their technology, among other things, will exhibit very low attenuation. Low-attenuation fiber was the latest and greatest when China and Japan were laying their fiber. Thinking they were ahead of the game, they laid this stuff, only to find later that low-attenuation cable doesn't carry ITU multiplexed data very well. In low-attenuation fiber, adjacent channels tend to interact with each other, causing harmonic interference at other ITU channels.
Fortunately, most of the fiber laid here in the US is the older, higher attenuation fiber which is great for ITU multiplexed data. As a consequence, the Asian markets have been researching S (short) band multiplexing, because the effects of the low-attenuation fiber are less noticeable at bands outside of the ITU grid.
Really, just because someone owns a patent doesn't mean that similar works can't exist or be created.
A patent means nothing until someone challenges it in court and the organization/person holding the patent wins.
Granted, it takes money and time to challenge a patent in court, but if a patent is obviously unwarranted, it is unlikely that the company owning the patent will go to court to protect it because they know they will lose and don't want to waste their money on a bunch of lawyers.
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On their site they mention that their technology, among other things, will exhibit very low attenuation. Low-attenuation fiber was the latest and greatest when China and Japan were laying their fiber. Thinking they were ahead of the game, they laid this stuff, only to find later that low-attenuation cable doesn't carry ITU multiplexed data very well. In low-attenuation fiber, adjacent channels tend to interact with each other, causing harmonic interference at other ITU channels.
Fortunately, most of the fiber laid here in the US is the older, higher attenuation fiber which is great for ITU multiplexed data. As a consequence, the Asian markets have been researching S (short) band multiplexing, because the effects of the low-attenuation fiber are less noticeable at bands outside of the ITU grid.
Really, just because someone owns a patent doesn't mean that similar works can't exist or be created.
A patent means nothing until someone challenges it in court and the organization/person holding the patent wins.
Granted, it takes money and time to challenge a patent in court, but if a patent is obviously unwarranted, it is unlikely that the company owning the patent will go to court to protect it because they know they will lose and don't want to waste their money on a bunch of lawyers.