Philip Brooks has the whole story here, including the list of 22 companies sued. Wi-LAN is a Canadian patent troll with 220 patents in a variety of fields. They apparently have asserted WiFi and DSL patents against the entire WiFi and DSL industry. Well, anyone who isn't licensed.
Wi-LAN is a publicly traded company in Canada. Their mission?
Our mission is to sign license agreements with all companies in the world who use Wi-LAN’s patented inventions and to selectively acquire new patents to ensure the Company's long-term growth.
Wi-LAN's earlier lawsuits were in Ottawa. Now they have turned to Sam Baxter and McKool Smith to sue "all [the] companies in the world."
CNN Money has an article about the new lawsuit, including Wi-LAN's admitted strategy to, just weeks before filing their lawsuit, hire someone to start a research program, to help them get not only future patents, but also help secure "permanent injunctions" in light of Judge Davis's ruling in CSIRO v. Buffalo:
In addition to providing Wi-LAN with future patents, Skippen acknowledged that the firm's research and development activities and university funding may also help the firm obtain permanent injunctions in litigation, as the courts could recognize the firm's status as a research and development organization.
We'll see if this ends up being meaninful research, or just a sham "to help the firm obtain permanent injunctions in litigation." Love how he gave that to the press, and cannot wait for the deposition.
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