CSIRO WiFi Ruling Upheld

By Greg McNevin

September 24, 2008: The CSIRO is edging closer to a mountain of WiFi royalties, following a US court ruling against an appeal lodged by Buffalo Technology.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) was awarded patents relating to several widely-used IEEE wireless standards (such as 802.11 which is used in wireless networking) back in 1996, after which it began to negotiate royalties with companies that had embraced the new technology.

When negotiations broke down in 2005, the CSIRO took Buffalo to court saying that the firm infringed on its patents, and in 2006 won.

Of course, Buffalo is not the only firm in the ongoing royalties saga, with companies such as Apple, Dell, HP, NetGear, Microsoft and Intel also involved, however, the ruling against Buffalo has opened the door for the CSIRO to move ahead.

If successful, these royalties could prove substantial due to the central role WiFi technology is playing in contemporary networking

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