Motorola accused of lies
A Wisconsin-based firm filed a lawsuit against Motorola on Monday, alleging the communications equipment manufacturer defrauded the smaller company and profited from stolen technology, says ChicagoTribune.com.
Memorylink is seeking to regain ownership of an invention and to be awarded profits that the Schaumburg-based company has generated from the contested technology. Motorola, "through a scheme of lies, broken promises of a future working relationship, and outright deceit", stole technology for real-time wireless video transmission used in electronics such as cellphones and security cameras, Memorylink said.
According to the complaint, Memorylink's founder, Peter Strandwitz, first contacted Motorola's Advanced Radio Lab in late 1997 to discuss his invention. He later brought on Robert Kniskern, who became a director of Memorylink when Strandwitz incorporated the company in January 1998. The firm alleges Strandwitz and Kniskern relied on Motorola's expertise in intellectual property matters and unwittingly ceded "a significant portion of their patent rights to Motorola for free".
Companies further WiMax goal
Six global technology companies said Monday they had formed an alliance to pool patents in a bid to encourage the expansion of WiMax, says International Herald Tribune.
Cisco Systems, Intel, Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire said they hoped the alliance would help companies designing products that use WiMax to get access to licences to patented technology at a predictable cost.
"It's about openness, predictability of the business model," said Scott Richardson, an executive with Clearwire.
Users becoming aware
According to IDC, consumers are becoming more aware of the different online technologies available in the mobile phone market, says iHotDesk.
John Delaney, consumer mobile research director at the firm, told BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme that the release of Apple's iPhone has raised awareness of what mobile phones can now do.
"The mobile Internet on the phone is now much more like the PC experience that we're used to than it was when it was launched around 2000, 2001," he continued.
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