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clarinox
to join the Bluetooth Special Interest Group both CSR and Broadcom must have ...
eewiz
I guess CSR must be having enough patents to attack Broadcom in Bluetooth and ...
CSR responds to Broadcom with patent salvo
Peter Clarke
8/23/2010 5:48 AM EDT
LONDON – Wireless and audio chip vendor CSR plc has asserted a number of its patents against broadband communications company Broadcom Corp. CSR did not list the patents in its statement to the London Stock Exchange.
CSR (Cambridge, England) said the move, made on Friday August 20, was "a measured and prepared response" to a move made on Thursday August 19 by Broadcom (Irvine, Calif.) seeking to add patents to an infringement suit against CSR in a U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. CSR made its filing in the same court.
Those patents had already been asserted in an International Trade Commission case against GPS chip vendor SiRF prior to its acquisition by CSR in February 2009, CSR said in a statement. CSR added that, based patent re-examination request submitted by CSR, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has recently issued initial rejections of all patent claims previously asserted by Broadcom against SiRF before the ITC.
CSR said it was aware of the Broadcom litigation at the time of acquiring SiRF in 2009, and had planned for litigation with Broadcom. "We will continue our efforts to focus on competing in the marketplace on the basis of our products and serving the needs of our customers," CSR said in the statement.
Related links and articles:
Wired comms chip market to rise 20 percent in 2010, says analyst
CSR shipping single-mode Bluetooth low energy chips
Will Broadcom follow Marvell into powerline?
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Frank Eory
8/23/2010 2:32 PM EDT
Which is a bigger growth industry -- semiconductors or patent litigation? Which one has the better ROI?
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eewiz
8/24/2010 2:56 AM EDT
If you are talking about one of those Patent pooling & Litigation only companies like Interdigital & PTSC, then I guess they might have better ROI :)
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KenKrechmer
8/23/2010 4:24 PM EDT
Applying patents to communications interfaces is a form of market domination. All who use the interface to communicate must pay for the rights. This restraint on communications seems most undesirable. Yet not allowing a chance to gain value with patents, does not address the need for motivation to create a better interface. There is a balanced solution.
Adaptable interfaces are needed in all public programmable communications interfaces. Such interfaces allow the means to negotiate which features (and related IPR) are used.
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eewiz
8/24/2010 3:09 AM EDT
I guess CSR must be having enough patents to attack Broadcom in Bluetooth and other wireless domain. So most likely the CSR-Broadcom fight will end up in some sort of cross licensing deal. Considering this, It was a good strategic move by CSR to grab litigation burdened SiRF at a low price of ~130 m$
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clarinox
8/25/2010 9:50 PM EDT
to join the Bluetooth Special Interest Group both CSR and Broadcom must have signed to give all other members the right to implement the Bluetooth standard and to infringe any patents required to exercise that right - but perhaps that is beside the point
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