Seattle IP investor sues four
A patent-licensing organisation based in Seattle has accused mobile phone manufacturers Sony Ericsson, LG Electronics, Samsung and Nokia of infringing its patents with the FM radios and Bluetooth technology present in some of their handsets.
The patent infringement complaint was filed at the US District Court for Western District of Washington on April 15.
The Washington Research Foundation licenses patents from various Washington-based institutions—including the University of Washington—through licensing and enforcement programmes.
The foundation is asserting patents that cover Low IF radio frequency receiver technology used in Bluetooth, FM and GSM radio data communication systems.
It has secured licensing deals for its patents with Low IF radio chipset companies, including Broadcom, Infineon and Toshiba.
"[T]HE WASHINGTON RESEARCH FOUNDATION HAS FAILED TO AGREE A LICENSING DEAL WITH ST-ERICSSON, EMERGED AS AN UNLICENSED SUPPLIER OF LOW IF CHIPSETS AFTER A SERIES OF COMPLEX CORPORATE TRANSFORMATIONS THAT OCCURRED OVER A PERIOD OF SEVERAL YEARS."
But the Washington Research Foundation has failed to agree a licensing deal with ST-Ericsson, which has “emerged as an unlicensed supplier of Low IF chipsets after a series of complex corporate transformations that occurred over a period of several years”. Infringing mobile phones contain Bluetooth, Bluetooth radio or FM radio technology, according to the complaint. These include Sony Ericsson’s C905, K530i and K850i phones; LG Electronics’ CF360, Xenon GR500 and Secret KF750 phones; Samsung’s SGH-A187 and SGHT249 phones; and Nokia’s 1661 phone.
The complaint also stated: “Nokia’s N8 phone contains ST-Ericsson’s ‘RF Transceiver’... If the ST-Ericsson GSM ‘RF Transceiver’ is based on the Aero GSM design and operates in a manner consistent with [the Washington Research Foundation’s] information and belief, it is asserted to infringe [certain Washington Research Foundation patents].”
It added: “[The Washington Research Foundation] will...employ the tools of discovery to determine which of the...Alleged Direct Infringers similarly infringed during the past six years due to the use of Low IF chipsets manufactured or sold by ST-Ericsson and its predecessors (including STMicro, and ST-NXP), before seeking to add such infringers as additional defendants herein.”
The Washington Research Foundation is seeking an injunction preventing the handset manufacturers from infringing its patents, damages and attorney fees.
