DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Patent-licensing company Wi-LAN Inc. (Toronto:WIN) (WIN.T) has started patent-infringement litigation against Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT) (MOT), Research in Motion Corp., Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ-NMS:RIMM) (RIMM) and UTStarCom Inc. (NASDAQ-NMS:UTSI) (UTSI).
Wi-LAN is claiming these companies infringed and continue to infringe certain of its patents by making and/or selling mobile handheld devices and other equipment.
The patents in question include Wi-LAN's U.S. patents RE 37,80 and 5,282,222.
The litigation was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, a popular venue for patent holders because it prosecutes infringement cases quickly and because some patent holders have won large damage awards there.
Ottawa-based Wi-LAN is being represented by McKool Smith, a U.S. law firm specializing in intellectual property litigation.
The litigation follows on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court's latest patent ruling last week on a case between LG Electronics Inc. (Korea:066570) (066570.SE) and Quanta Computer Inc. (Taiwan:2382) (2382.TW) over whether a patent holder could collect royalties from multiple points in the production chain by restricting downstream use of its patented technology. As reported, the court ruled against LG, finding that its patent rights were exhausted under the terms of its license agreement with Intel.
Jim Skippen, chief executive of Wi-LAN, recently told Dow Jones that his company has focused on licensing its patents to equipment vendors and other downstream companies on the expectation that the Supreme Court would rule against LG and make it difficult to impose downstream restrictions on the use of Wi-LAN's technology.
Following the LG ruling, Skippen said he didn't think the decision was sensible from a business perspective since patent holders must now endeavor to collect a full royalty from one segment of the production chain, rather than easing the burden on prospective licensees by splitting the cost of a license among different levels of the chain.
Wi-LAN generates the bulk of its revenue from patent licensing.
Wi-LAN also confirmed it has settled its dispute in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California with Marvell Semiconductor Inc. It didn't provide any details of the settlement.
-Judy McKinnon; 416-306-2100; AskNewswires@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 06-20-08 0809 Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
