Intermec Technologies hit back in an ongoing dispute with Symbol Technologies (Profile, Products, Articles), suing the wireless technology vendor for alleged infringement of several Intermec patents.

At March 10 (2005) Symbol filed a claim against Intermec. Symbol charged that the company infringed Symbol patents related to IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN technology. It also is seeking a permanent injunction and unspecified damages. The widely used 802.11 standard is based in part on Symbol patents, which the company licenses on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, Symbol said.

Now Intermec is seeking unspecified damages and a permanent injunction against Symbol to prevent further infringement, according to an Intermec statement. The company alleges Symbol infringed six patents that cover a wireless data capture system capable of distributing data over a network, battery-powered data processing devices that can run a multitasking operating system and handheld data capture devices with graphical user interfaces and the capability to use handwritten input, the statement said.

Both Intermec and Symbol make bar code and RFID (radio frequency identification) systems, which can be used for point of sale, inventory and other applications. And both companies hold numerous patents centered on RFID technology, making them the two companies with the most IP at stake in the RFID tag and reader market.

The clash follows a long but unsuccessful series of negotiations toward a cross-licensing agreement for the technology each brings to the table.

As the litigation continues, the inevitable question becomes whether contention between these two important players will undermine customer adoption of RFID technology. For sure, if the battle drags on for long time, it will have significant impact on RFID adoption because companies don’t know who they’ll have to pay for certain kinds of technology, and end users know whatever cost goes into the technology side will be passed on to them.

| Permanent Link | Print This eLog |

(Visited over 19368 times)