Posted by : Anonymous on Jul 04, 2004 - 10:12 PM General

After a successful suit against Redline Communications, Wi-LAN Inc. has turned the legal heat on Cisco Systems Inc.
Taking aim at the networking giant's Linksys division and Aironet product line, the Canadian company is claiming that its IP has been infringed upon.

According to Wi-LAN, the acceptance of its W-OFDM technology, and the company's recent purchase of 17 patents and patent applications that relate to the implementation of Wi-MAX certified products, has pushed it to pursue licensing and the protection of its intellectual property. In that regard, Wi-LAN has started legal action in Canada against Cisco for producing and marketing IEEE standard 802.11a and 802.11g devices without a license from Wi-LAN.

Specifically, the company is claiming that Cisco's Linksys division and Aironet product line use advanced orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technology, and it is Wi-LAN's belief that these devices infringe on its Canadian patent number 2,064,975 and United States patents No. 5,282,222 and 5,555,268.

"This legal action against Cisco puts the industry on notice that Wi-LAN will aggressively protect its patent rights," Sayed-Amr El Hamamsy, president and CEO of Wi-LAN, said in a statement. "Wi-LAN has consistently maintained that its patents are necessary for the implementation of the second generation WiFi Alliance standards, IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g, and the WiMAX Forum standards, IEEE 802.16 and the ETSI BRAN HiperMAN. It is our intent to collect, either directly or through component manufacturers, royalties from any company selling 802.11a, 802.11g or WiMAX certified equipment."

Wi-LAN is seeking compensation for use of its IP as well as punitive damages from Cisco. But Cisco says if the infringement claims are found to be valid, it would not be the only company in hot water.

"Wi-LAN claims that its patents are related to industry standards and appears to be applying the patents to the WiFi industry as a whole," a Cisco spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman continued to say the company would respond as appropriate after reviewing Wi-LAN's claims.