Research In Motion is being sued for infringing a patent relating to Bluetooth.
Wi-LAN, owner of US Patent 6,260,168, has filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida against RIM, and is seeking unspecified damages as well as preliminary and permanent injunctions on the sale of infringing RIM products.
According
to Reuters, Wi-LAN has licensed its intellectual property to over 250 companies, with RIM being the company's latest target. The filing alleges that the
PlayBook and various smartphones in RIM's catalog infringes on the patent. RIM has yet to comment on the lawsuit.
Last week, the company initiated five separate lawsuits against Apple, HTC, and Sierra Wireless, alleging infringement on patents relating to 3G HSPA and LTE technologies. All three are being sued under patent number 8,315,640 and 8,311,040 for LTE, but as HTC already is in
ongoing litigation over the 3G patent, the other two will have to fight off the 6,381,211 patent.
Wi-LAN has a long legal history associated with its patent portfolio. It has fought a
wide array of technology companies over the use of its patents, including Apple, Dell, HP, Intel, LG, and Sony. Though originally working on implementing wireless technology, the company became a "patent troll" after its main business failed.
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