Wi-Fi patent case results in $229M payment to Australian government
WiFi patent case results in $229 million payment to Australian government

                      
                      
          Tech vendors including Lenovo, Acer, Sony, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile will reportedly pay an Australian scientific research agency $229 million in a patent settlement over use of Wi-Fi technology. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), run by the Australian government, patented wireless LAN technology in the early 1990s and alleged infringement by numerous companies in the US court system.
CSIRO won more than $200 million in 2009 in a settlement with 14 companies including HP, Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Netgear, Toshiba, 3Com, Nintendo, D-Link, and Buffalo Technologies, according to the IDG News Service. With the latest settlement, announced by the Australian agency on Sunday, CSIRO has license agreements with 23 companies including laptop makers, carriers, and wireless chip makers, according to Reuters.
CSIRO's US patent was credited to inventors John O'Sullivan and others who developed ways to overcome multipath distortion of wireless network signals, leading to technology used in the 802.11a and 802.11g wireless standards, the Register writes.
CSIRO has not ruled out further litigation, the agency's acting group executive Nigel Poole said, according to Reuters. "We couldn't see the evolution of the innovation system in the way it has, so we didn't apply for patents in Latin America, in Russia, and either China or India," Poole said. "With the benefit of hindsight of course we would have loved to have a Chinese patent or a patent in India as well."


          
                      
                  