THE CSIRO has won a long legal battle with the some of the world's leading technology companies in an outcome that will give a substantial financial windfall to Australia's peak scientific body.
The case revolved around the CSIRO's patented wireless local area network technology, a process invented in the 1990s that is being used in almost every wireless device - including mobile phones, computers, game consoles, networking equipment and internet-enabled TVs. "We are very pleased with the outcome in financial terms," said Mike Whelan, the deputy chief executive, operations.
"In aggregate, it will present the largest amount from IP [intellectual property] that this organisation has ever earned."
Based on the outcome of recent technology patent cases, the settlement is likely to run into millions of dollars.
On Monday a judge in Texas finalised the settlement after the last of the 14 companies accused of infringing CSIRO's patent agreed to negotiate. Under the terms of the settlement CSIRO was prevented broadcasting news of the resolution, which is why it has only now filtered out.
The companies which CSIRO took to court represented the who's who of the technology world and included Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Dell, Toshiba, Asus, Microsoft and Nintendo - some of which had settled before the case went to trial this month.
The settlement terms are confidential but, according to Mr Whelan, include one-off compensation payments, agreements to pay ongoing royalties and a combination of the two.
"We are going to reinvest the proceeds into further research," he said.
Mr Whelan said that for the foreseeable future CSIRO's technology would continue to be the standard wireless technology, ensuring a steady flow of royalties in the years ahead.
Microsoft's settlement with CSIRO came as the case got under way last week, making it the second time this month it has suffered a patent setback against Australians.
Last week, an Australian inventor, Ric Richardson, was the main beneficiary of a $US388 million ($537 million) damages award against Microsoft, after a US jury found that the giant US technology company had violating his patent relating to anti-piracy technology.
While not willing to be drawn on the size of the payout, Mr Whelan said it was a "very substantial case", which had required a team of 30 people working for the CSIRO to prosecute the case against the companies that were party to the litigation.
CSIRO argued that a patent which was granted to it in 1996 entitled it to royalties from any company that incorporated the 802.11 wireless standard in their devices.
The lawsuits against the technology companies had been running since 2005.
The court case, which had been under way for a week, was taking place before a jury of eight in the US District Court, in Tyler, Texas - a jurisdiction that has become a hunting ground for organisations seeking to defend their intellectual property rights.
Tyler and the neighbouring town of Marshall have developed a reputation over the years for conducting quick trials in what are typically complicated patent disputes and for plaintiff-friendly juries.
And for defendants, the odds of winning a patent dispute reportedly make settlement the better option.
DAVID AND THE GOLIATHS: WHO WILL PAY
- Hewlett-Packard
- Asus
- Intel
- Dell
- Toshiba
- Netgear
- D-Link
- Belkin
- SMC
- Accton
- 3Com
- Buffalo
- Microsoft
- Nintendo
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/biztech/2009/04/22/1240079730838.html
Showing posts with label internet connectivity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet connectivity. Show all posts
21 December 2008
India suffers massive internet disruption after undersea cables break
More cables pulled by dragging anchors....when it comes to infastructure breakdowns it doesn't rain, it pours, apparently.
"(Monica M. Davey)
... or not, as it happens. India and Egypt have nothing to celebrate after huge internet disruption
Murad Ahmed, Technology Reporter
Tech Central: er, something's happening
Millions of people across the Middle East and Asia have lost access to the internet after two undersea cables in the Mediterranean suffered severe damage.
Huge numbers in Egypt and India were left struggling to get online as a result of the outage, when the major internet pipeline between Egypt and Italy was cut.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) throughout the region, including those in United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, also reported problems. International telephone calls, which have also been affected, are being rerouted to work around the problem.
Industry experts told The Times that two sub-sea cables went down just off Alexandra, causing the mass disruption. It happens to a single cable typically once a year, and companies have developed the fail-safe of redirecting traffic to a second cable should this occur.
“It is incredibly rare to experience a dual-break where both cables are down simultaneously,” said a spokesperson for Interoute, the internet networks company.
The Egyptian ministry said it will take “several days” for cables to be repaired and is trying to reroute Egypt’s internet connections.
Indian ISPs said their problems were due to the cable damage off Egypt. Speaking to reporters, Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers’ Association of India, said: "Information technology companies, software companies and call centres that provide online services to the UK or the US east coast are the worst affected."
Rafaat Hindy, from the Egyptian ministry, said: "Despite this being an international cable affecting many Gulf and Arab countries, we are closest to it and so we have a lot of responsibility.
"We are working as fast as we can."
It is thought that up to 70 per cent of web services in Egypt, and 60 per cent in India, were disrupted yesterday. There were reports that phone and internet difficults had spread to Yemen, Sudan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The shut down will take several days to fix, and could have a major impact on the region and across the world. It is likely to hit businesses who will struggle to communicate in the affected countires. Call-centres who work for British companies are likely to be offline or hard to contact in the coming days. Others warned that bank and stock market trading could be affected.
The digital blackout highlighted the vulnerability of global communications. Hundreds of millions of people access the web, but the vast majority of international traffic runs through a a small amount of cables submerged below the sea.
Industry insiders warned that a domino effect was occuring today, causing the disruption to spread across the globe. As companies’ private internet services went down, workers were forced to use the public internet and mobile phones to communicate. This has resulted in a heavy strain on phone and internet networks, meaning calls could go down and cause the internet to become slower or blackout completely."
link
"(Monica M. Davey)
... or not, as it happens. India and Egypt have nothing to celebrate after huge internet disruption
Murad Ahmed, Technology Reporter
Tech Central: er, something's happening
Millions of people across the Middle East and Asia have lost access to the internet after two undersea cables in the Mediterranean suffered severe damage.
Huge numbers in Egypt and India were left struggling to get online as a result of the outage, when the major internet pipeline between Egypt and Italy was cut.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) throughout the region, including those in United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, also reported problems. International telephone calls, which have also been affected, are being rerouted to work around the problem.
Industry experts told The Times that two sub-sea cables went down just off Alexandra, causing the mass disruption. It happens to a single cable typically once a year, and companies have developed the fail-safe of redirecting traffic to a second cable should this occur.
“It is incredibly rare to experience a dual-break where both cables are down simultaneously,” said a spokesperson for Interoute, the internet networks company.
The Egyptian ministry said it will take “several days” for cables to be repaired and is trying to reroute Egypt’s internet connections.
Indian ISPs said their problems were due to the cable damage off Egypt. Speaking to reporters, Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers’ Association of India, said: "Information technology companies, software companies and call centres that provide online services to the UK or the US east coast are the worst affected."
Rafaat Hindy, from the Egyptian ministry, said: "Despite this being an international cable affecting many Gulf and Arab countries, we are closest to it and so we have a lot of responsibility.
"We are working as fast as we can."
It is thought that up to 70 per cent of web services in Egypt, and 60 per cent in India, were disrupted yesterday. There were reports that phone and internet difficults had spread to Yemen, Sudan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The shut down will take several days to fix, and could have a major impact on the region and across the world. It is likely to hit businesses who will struggle to communicate in the affected countires. Call-centres who work for British companies are likely to be offline or hard to contact in the coming days. Others warned that bank and stock market trading could be affected.
The digital blackout highlighted the vulnerability of global communications. Hundreds of millions of people access the web, but the vast majority of international traffic runs through a a small amount of cables submerged below the sea.
Industry insiders warned that a domino effect was occuring today, causing the disruption to spread across the globe. As companies’ private internet services went down, workers were forced to use the public internet and mobile phones to communicate. This has resulted in a heavy strain on phone and internet networks, meaning calls could go down and cause the internet to become slower or blackout completely."
link
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