Wireless Worries As Aussies Win Test
Australian science brains-trust wins WiFi patent case. Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 could all be impacted.
Posted 16 Nov 2006
Buffalo router: patently infringing? Apparently so...
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OK, the bald facts of the matter that could mean having to pay more cash for your gaming fun are as follows:
The Australian Government-backed Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has just been awarded a summary judgement relating to WLAN (802.11 a/g) technology.
The ruling relates the CSIRO's 2005 claim against Buffalo Technology for infringing one of its patents (U.S. patent 5487069).
The ramifications of this ruling could add to the unit costs of all devices that use the tech.
Let's pluck from thin air three devices that use 802.11: the Microsoft Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3. Each of these randomly selected boxes of fun uses 802.11 either built-in or as an optional extra for WiFi.
In terms of the just how immediately the CSIRO might go for the cash, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reports:
The reason that the CSIRO took so damn long to file a claim, since the patent was filed on November 23, 1993, is a question that only Mr Nigel Poole can answer. Nige’ is responsible for CSIRO's 3,500 patents and for commercialising the new technologies.
U.S. Federal Court of the Eastern District of Texas, Judge Davis granted summary judgment in favour of the Aussies. He also granted summary judgment that the defendant, Austin, Texas-based Buffalo Technology (and its Japanese parent company), had infringed CSIRO’s patent.
According to The SMH, however, the CSIRO has further battles to face, having failed to convince the judge that, “its position as a foreign government body meant it was immune from lawsuits”.
This means that the antipodeans will now have to take on Intel and Dell, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Netgear in related cases begun last May.
[i]For the nerdlier of you:
The U.S. Patent Office, patent number 5487069
[/i]
The Australian Government-backed Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has just been awarded a summary judgement relating to WLAN (802.11 a/g) technology.
The ruling relates the CSIRO's 2005 claim against Buffalo Technology for infringing one of its patents (U.S. patent 5487069).
The ramifications of this ruling could add to the unit costs of all devices that use the tech.
Let's pluck from thin air three devices that use 802.11: the Microsoft Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3. Each of these randomly selected boxes of fun uses 802.11 either built-in or as an optional extra for WiFi.
In terms of the just how immediately the CSIRO might go for the cash, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reports:
[i]
A report... said the battle was worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but the CSIRO spokeswoman said this figure was "plucked out of the air".
"They asked me and I said I wasn't prepared to comment," she said.
"We're not talking about sums at all at this stage. We're just concentrating on the case."
[/i]
A report... said the battle was worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but the CSIRO spokeswoman said this figure was "plucked out of the air".
"They asked me and I said I wasn't prepared to comment," she said.
"We're not talking about sums at all at this stage. We're just concentrating on the case."
[/i]
The reason that the CSIRO took so damn long to file a claim, since the patent was filed on November 23, 1993, is a question that only Mr Nigel Poole can answer. Nige’ is responsible for CSIRO's 3,500 patents and for commercialising the new technologies.
U.S. Federal Court of the Eastern District of Texas, Judge Davis granted summary judgment in favour of the Aussies. He also granted summary judgment that the defendant, Austin, Texas-based Buffalo Technology (and its Japanese parent company), had infringed CSIRO’s patent.
According to The SMH, however, the CSIRO has further battles to face, having failed to convince the judge that, “its position as a foreign government body meant it was immune from lawsuits”.
This means that the antipodeans will now have to take on Intel and Dell, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Netgear in related cases begun last May.
[i]For the nerdlier of you:
The U.S. Patent Office, patent number 5487069
The present invention discloses a wireless LAN, a peer-to-peer wireless LAN, a wireless transceiver and a method of transmitting data, all of which are capable of operating at frequencies in excess of 10 GHz and in multipath transmission environments. This is achieved by a combination of techniques which enable adequate performance in the presence of multipath transmission paths where the reciprocal of the information bit rate of the transmission is short relative to the time delay differences between significant ones of the multipath transmission paths. In the LANs the mobile transceivers are each connected to, and powered by, a corresponding portable electronic device with computational ability.
[/i]
Comments
2/2
Joji wrote:
I say just pay them and settle out of court, since this is no ones fault but Buffalo's, if its true (I'll give them the benefit of the doubt).
Having just returned from 'Stralia after a few years sitting a beach eating prawns, I can assure you that the CSIRO needs all the cash it can get - it will be chasing this ca$h.
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I say just pay them and settle out of court, since this is no ones fault but Buffalo's, if its true (I'll give them the benefit of the doubt).