Three major electronics makers have been accused of violating patented work from the University of Washington with their use of the Bluetooth wireless technology found in millions of computers, cell phones and headsets.
Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and Finland's Nokia Corp. were accused of illegally incorporating unlicensed Bluetooth chip sets in a variety of products. The federal lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and an injunction barring the companies from selling those products.
Matsushita, known globally for its Panasonic brand products, and Samsung produce a wide range of electronics products, while Nokia is the world's largest manufacturer of cellular telephones. Bluetooth, whose products feature a distinctive, blinking blue light, enables wireless exchanges of data between cell phones, computers, headsets and other devices.
The lawsuit was filed late last month in U.S. District Court in Seattle by the Washington Research Institute, a nonprofit group that seeks commercial uses and enforces patents for technology developed at Washington's public universities.
Analysts said Wednesday that consumers likely won't be affected by the legal wrangling.
Defendants would be quick to settle if it appeared the case was immediately threatening their product lines, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group.
But Enderle said Broadcom Corp. of Irvine, Calif., the only chip manufacturer that has licensed the technology, stood to profit mightily until the dispute is resolved.
"This is like a blazing advertisement for Broadcom," he said. "As long as this is in play, they can say, 'If you want to do Bluetooth products without problems, we're the only guys you can license it from.' This is a huge potential competitive advantage."
He also said timing was fortuitous, coming just ahead of next week's International Consumer Electronics Show, when many buyers and sellers are making design decisions about future products.
Nokia officials, following long-standing policy, would not comment on the lawsuit early Wednesday. A Samsung representative acknowledged that the lawsuit had been filed but would not comment further. No one answered a telephone call to Matsushita after business hours.
According to the lawsuit, Bluetooth-based computers, cell phones and headsets made by the companies have violated four patents, including one issued for research done in the mid-1990s by Edwin Suominen when he was an undergraduate student at the University of Washington. All four patents are now held by the Washington Research Institute.
The institute's principal lawyer, Michael Lisa, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the court filing followed three years of informal attempts to resolve the issue.
Any damages received will go to the university and to Suominen, who is serving as a technical adviser in the case, John D. Reagh, the institute's manager of business development and legal affairs, told The Seattle Times.
Institute officials did not immediately return a call Wednesday from The Associated Press.
The three manufacturers use chip sets made by CSR PLC of Cambridge, England, which has not licensed the disputed technology. CSR said in a filing with the London Stock Exchange that the suit is without merit and that the company will "vigorously" defend its products. CSR shares fell 2.9 percent to close Wednesday at 640 pence ($12.60) on the LSE.
Lisa said the institute was targeting the product manufacturers rather than the chip makers because "their products sell for more and yield higher profits and royalties."
Shares in Matsushita slipped 6 cents to close at $20.03 on the New York Stock Exchange, while Nokia shares rose 34 cents, or 1.67 percent, to finish at $20.66 on the NYSE.
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