CSIRO wifi patent

(Please help analyse this patent: is it a hardware or a software patent?)

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian organisation which holds US patent 5,487,069 on wifi networking.

In 2009, CSIRO got an out of court settlement from fourteen companies for infringing this patent. As of 2010, CSIRO is in the process of litigating six more companies. This was after the companies reneged on a deal to pay royalties during the standards process.^{[reference needed]}

CSIRO's commercial executive director describes their patent plans as "trying to license an entire industry". He also mentioned that their patent has been granted in nineteen countries.

About the patent: a hardware patent?

The patent is described as "a wireless LAN, a peer-to-peer wireless LAN, a wireless transceiver and a method of transmitting data, all of which are capable of operating at frequencies in excess of 10 GHz and in multipath transmission environments." A number of the claims do not include the 10GHz limitation and therefore are said to apply more generally to wireless communications including those covered by the 802.11(a), (g) and (n) standards.

According to some, it is not a software patent, it is a hardware patent, because the word 'software' does not appear.

Similar patents include US4,679,227 and US3,605,019.

oB3E4e <a href="http://jlkakjqfrdwv.com/">jlkakjqfrdwv</a>, [url=http://mxunpyhcdpri.com/]mxunpyhcdpri[/url], [link=http://tfbuzpcodnnu.com/]tfbuzpcodnnu[/link], http://arydraugabjb.com/

A non-practising entity?

CSIRO has been called a non-practising entity as it does not make or sell any networking equipment. However, they did launch a start up (Radiata, Inc.) to commercialize their wireless technology, later selling it to CISCO for approximately US$ 295 million. To date, CISCO has not been the target of any CSIRO suit for enforcing wireless patents.

Trivia

CSIRO announced that they will put 75% of the royalties gathered in 2009 into a fund for further research. As of May 2010, CSIRO has announced plans to lay-off 15% of their IT staff.

Related pages on ESP Wiki

• Litigation
• Example software patents

External links

• No backdown from CSIRO over Wi-Fi patents, Oct 2007, ZDNet AU, documents the development of the patent
• U.S. Patent No. 5,496,069 entitled "Wireless LAN".
• Patent proceeds to fund new CSIRO research
• US Patent 5487069 - Wireless LAN
• Slashdot coverage: [1], [2], [3]
• Wikipedia: CSIRO#802.11_patent
• WiFi patent win yields $150m for CSIRO research (Australian dollars or USD?)

Patently-o coverage

• http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2007/06/nonpracticing-e.html
• http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2008/09/csiro-v-buffalo.html

Links to be sorted later

• https://mentor.ieee.org/802.11/public-file/07/11-07-2619-00-0000-802-11-wg-chairs-received-email-letter-response-from-csiro-regarding-loa-requests.doc
• http://www.ieee802.org/CSIRO-Patent-Memo-19JUL2007.pdf
• http://www.smh.com.au/news/Breaking/CSIRO-hit-with-wifi-patent-suit/2005/05/19/1116361656580.html
• http://www.zdnet.com.au/australian-government-defends-wireless-patent-139192549.htm