CANBERRA, April 2 (Reuters) – Australia’s scientific
research agency has reached a multi-million dollar out-of-court
settlement in the United States over the use of its wireless
internet technology which underpins wi-fi platforms worldwide.
The government-run Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO) said the settlement for the
Wireless local area networking (WLAN) patent was worth more than
A$220 million ($229 million).
WLAN technology, commonly known as wi-fi, was invented by
CSIRO scientists in the 1990s, and is now used in over three
billion computers, smartphones and other Internet-ready devices
around the world.
Since 2005, CSIRO has been suing companies for using the
WLAN technology without a licence. In 2009, it received A$205
million after reaching settlements with 14 companies.
Following the latest settlement with companies including
Lenovo, Acer, Sony and AT&T;,
the CSIRO has license agreements with 23 companies. Among them
are lap-top makers, mobile carriers and wireless chip makers,
which represent around 90 percent of the industry.
More than five billion electronic devices will be sold
around the world incorporating CSIRO’s WLAN technology by the
time the patents expire in 2013, the agency said.
A spokeswoman for CSIRO told Reuters on Monday that no
decision had been made about further litigation, but CSIRO has
not ruled out more cases.
“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,” Nigel Poole, acting group
executive of information sciences group at CSIRO, added.
“With the benefit of hindsight of course we would have loved
to have a Chinese patent or a patent in India as well,” he told
local radio.
