Bluetooth Woes for Apple?
I have to admit the lawsuit broiling over Bluetooth technology was flying completely under my radar until Apple got added to the mix this week. I was as surprised as the next person – Bluetooth is everywhere now, even in cars. So who is suing who over this now-standard technology, and why?
It seems the Washington Research Foundation has their tail feathers up over the use of the technology. They started the lawsuit in December of 2006 against Matsuhita Electric Industrial Co. They then added Samsung and Nokia to the defendant list in the Seattle-based lawsuit. Now, months later, they have also added Apple, Sony, Dell, Logitech, Toshiba and Plantronics to the defendant list.
the lawsuit is a complex patent lawsuit in which WRF is trying to bar the manufacturers of products using Bluetooth Technologies from using a certain kind of Bluetooth chip in their products. This would affect many millions of products already on the market, and more in development. It is important to note that WRF did not invent Bluetooth technology – Eriksson did, along with a team from Intel and others.
The chips in question are made a company called CSR, who filed a counter suit against WRF. this case is one of many seemingly frivolous lawsuits being brought by technology makers against each other. With all of these legal issues being drug about, it’s a wonder technology advances as quickly as it does. Regardless, you can read the full article here. We’ll be following the lawsuit on Apple Reporter, so check back here for an update.
Author: Leslie Poston, © 2007, All Rights Reserved
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