agere
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Sony loses $18.5 million in patent infringement case
Over two years ago, Agere Systems filed a suit against Sony for potential infringement on patents regarding "wireless local area network apparatus." Looks like the courts ruled in Agere Systems' favor. Sony has been ordered to pay $18.5 million for use of the technology in their devices, such as the mylo and PSP. The jury ruled that the patent infringement was willful.[Thanks, Patrick!]
Agere's BluOnyx portable Bluetooth media streamer for your phone
So the portable media usage scenario we hear most about around these parts looks a little something like this: user has cellphone, user has portable media device, user wishes portable media device could be integrated into cellphone so user only needs to take with them one device. Enter, oddly, Agere's new oxymoronically named BluOnyx device. By way of Bluetooth, SD card, or USB, users load up their BluOnyx -- which, conceptually, could come with between 1 and 40GB of space, would be roughly 85 x 54 x 6 or 15mm, and cost between $100 and $250 -- with content, which is in turn wirelessly transferred via Bluetooth to the user's cellphone for playback, effectively reducing the devices carried from two to, um, two. Granted, we do think being able to easily broadcast video to everyone (or just your specified friends) in your vicinity via Bluetooth, or quickly backup our phone to a portable hard drive are interesting ideas, but we're not entirely sure that novelty is enough to get you to leave your media player at home. Especially not when its replacement is another device which is better suited for helping to faster run down your phone's battery while watching video on a screen undoubtedly smaller than your media player's.
Sony asked to pay up for "stolen" patents
Again, Sony? Can't you keep your paws off of other people's innovations? Oh, wait... this one seems unfair. Agere Systems (the microelectronic group resulting from the merging of AT&T and Lucent) claims Sony has infringed on eight patents in a number of their products. These include, but aren't limited to, PSP, PS2, PS3, Vaio computers, Walkman players, Memory Stick Duos, Location Free TV, and Handycams. What patents could possibly be infringed by this assortment of goodies? "The patents in question run from a "wireless local area network apparatus" to "barrier layer treatments for tungsten plug."" So, hold on, Agere is claiming Sony stole the patent for a wireless LAN? Seems a bit broad. Agere is asking to see Sony's books as well, simply to see how much money they can force Sony to give them. Sony naturally denies these claims and counters they have the right to use seven of the eight patents through a cross-licensing deal in 1989 with AT&T and Lucent. The other? Incomplete or incorrectly filled out paperwork. These supposed "infringements" seem very broad and almost like Agere is hopping on the "slit Sony's wrists" bus that Immersion Technology, among others, have boarded previously. Hopefully this case falls in Sony's favor and it in no way alters the release of the PS3.
