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Nokia, along Matsushita and Samsung, are being sued over Bluetooth patents

By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 at 5:45 PM

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Samsung Electronics Co. and Nokia Oyj, are accused of using patented wireless-communication technology without permission in a lawsuit brought by the Washington Research Foundation.

Matsushita, the world’s biggest consumer-electronics maker, its Panasonic unit, as well as Samsung and Nokia are infringing four patents for technology sold under the "Bluetooth” name, the foundation said in a suit filed Dec. 21 in Seattle federal court. The technology lets users exchange data between mobile phones, PCs and other devices without using cables.

The nonprofit Washington Research Foundation, which has given more than $150 million to the University of Washington, is asking for a court order barring the sale of products that use the patented technology and monetary damages.

The Seattle-based foundation said it isn’t asserting patent- infringement claims against products that use Broadcom Corp. chipsets because Broadcom licenses the technology. Rather, the foundation said, the suit is aimed at products that use chipsets made by companies other than Broadcom, "specifically those manufactured by CSR Plc.”

Source: Chicago Tribune

So let me get this straight … Nokia, Samsung, and Matsushita are getting sued for using Bluetooth chipsets from a company who doesn’t have rights.

The logic meter isn’t picking up a signal.

Why not sue CSR?!

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About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

  • Ricky Cadden

    They won’t sue CSR because they probably don’t have NEAR the amount of cash reserves that Nokia, Samsung, and Matsushita have. This annoys the hell out of me, personally.

    If I was in charge of the patent office, here’d be my rules:

    1. If you can’t make it work within 5 years of “inventing” it, it’s fair game again. You have to reapply

    2. If you can already do it, you can’t patent an “improvement.”

    3. If you have a legit patent, and someone else uses it without you doing anything about it for more than 2 years, you don’t deserve to bank off it. (RIM vs. NTP)

    That would solve alot of this crap right from the get-go.

  • Stefan Constantinescu

    Don’t even get me started on the US patent system!

    If you’re going to be in a fight, wouldn’t you go for the critical damage zones first? I know they just want money, hopefully the judge will see that too.