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Sony, Nintendo, Apple sued over wireless tech

Wi-Fi purveyor Bandspeed files patent-infringement suit against PS3, Wii, iPhone makers over performance-based online communications.

The Big Three console manufacturers are regularly fending off patent dispute litigation, to varying degrees of success. As spotted by Patent Arcade, Sony Computer Entertainment and Nintendo, along with iPhone creator Apple, were served with a new patent-dispute complaint last week in the Western District Court of Texas that deals with the way the three companies handle wireless communication channels.

Bandspeed's flagship product, the AirMaestro.

Bandspeed's flagship product, the AirMaestro.

The complaint was filed by Bandspeed Inc., which describes itself as "the leader in next-generation Wi-Fi management," and stems from two patents the company filed in September 2001. The first patent, which was issued in April 2006, details a way in which a device selects a wireless channel to communicate through based on performance. The second patent, issued August 4, 2009, concerns managing said communications channels, also based on performance.

Bandspeed contends that Sony, Nintendo, and Apple violate both of these patents with their respective PlayStation 3, Wii, and iPhone 3G products. The wireless communications company seeks damages as determined by the court, as well as a permanent injunction preventing the three companies from continuing to violate Bandspeed's patents.

221 Comments

  • Todaishi

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 10:17 pm GMT

    lol

  • Kou-Nurasaka

    Posted Feb 27, 2010 4:46 pm GMT

    Is it just me or does the product (I assume its a router but I can't really tell) looks very cheap? It looks like someone melted down a Transformer's toy and then used that as the case to this thing!

  • Kosba_2142

    Posted Feb 18, 2010 10:18 pm GMT

    If they win... I have a new hero... iPhone and Wii have been producing quite a bit of crap, while PS3 just hasn't been my cup of tea

  • guitarshank007

    Posted Feb 18, 2010 10:48 am GMT

    So... by these standards, mountain bike manufacturers should be able to sue any other mountain bike manufacturers if the placement and speed settings of the gears are similar to each other.

    Seriously though. They handle Wi-Fi similarly simply because it was a faster and more effective method in theory. What a petty lawsuit.

  • Jackmac36

    Posted Feb 18, 2010 10:31 am GMT

    A company that nobody knows, wanting to get some cash from suing large companies... haven't heard that before...

  • mariostar0001

    Posted Feb 18, 2010 6:16 am GMT

    Good luck getting them to stop, millions own the Wii's by now.

  • Allerletzt

    Posted Jan 27, 2010 9:07 am GMT

    How asinine. I like how they filed for patent infringement on a patent that they got a mere 4 months ago. As for the other patent, even if it serves the same function, how does anyone know that they infringed on the patent? They protect the method used to get a job done, not the job that gets done.

  • technerd2

    Posted Jan 17, 2010 9:12 pm GMT

    Are they talking about frequency hopping. because if they are everything from cell phones to wi-Fi uses it and frequency hopping has been around as early as 1930

  • MarcusAntonius

    Posted Jan 17, 2010 6:45 am GMT

    This suit is the suit that defines frivolous. Unless these guys actually developed their own Wi-Fi stations, this suit has no merit.

  • Veritech_Dragon

    Posted Dec 14, 2009 4:32 pm GMT

    @Nobri A tech guy I know said these buggers work for microsoft and this suit was full of crap.

  • gorilla3

    Posted Dec 13, 2009 3:28 pm GMT

    Its funny, but if you look up they filed the patents in sept 2001, and they didn't get issued till just before the wii and the playstation hit the shelves.

    also the other patent didn't get issued till 2009. thats 8 years from when they put in for it. does this mean they where still working on it? if so, maybe they took some of nintendo's, sony or apple's idea and tried to pawn them off as theirs
    I don't know how patents work, but 8 years to get one issued seems like a long time.

    But in terms of this company being small, its not. there products are used all over the world. but if you don't know thats its there you won't ever know. everywhere from colleges to big businesses use there products. its like an auto channel changer for when your wireless product gets interference. its senses the decline in signal and switches to a new channel.

  • Scisor50

    Posted Dec 12, 2009 6:04 pm GMT

    And still they somehow manage to win -_-

  • TpaulH

    Posted Dec 12, 2009 11:57 am GMT

    @Cloud737

    Amen, brother. Too many moneygrubbers looking for cash from the big boys. Maybe they should try earning their own money, huh? You said it perfectly. These kinds of suits and these kinds of companies disgust me.

  • erasmorpheous

    Posted Nov 15, 2009 8:09 pm GMT

    money money money money....money! (high pitched)

  • Cloud737

    Posted Nov 15, 2009 2:01 pm GMT

    This is the reason why I propose to abolish all patents (except for those in medicine, which actually do their job well). They're mostly useless, and only hurt creativity (start-ups almost never have a change, they have to divert more attention to avoiding "mines" than creating good products, and the only ones to survive or evade frivolous patent suits are either big companies with lots of patents to counter-suit with, or big companies with lots of money to defend their case).

    Because of patents, we now have troll companies that do nothing but gather up (buy) and submit patents, waiting to sue the big fish, while creating absolutely nothing in their entire lifetime, so as to not be vulnerable to counter-suits. These lowlife companies do nothing but lie in wait years on end, waiting to sue anyone even remotely close to it's patent definition in a desperate attempt to make money while contributing absolutely nothing.

  • Sammonoske223

    Posted Nov 15, 2009 4:33 am GMT

    So, just some random company jumping on the "sue the big guys" bandwagon to try and pull in some money. Good luck Bandspeed, you will need it..

  • KBABZ

    Posted Nov 15, 2009 2:29 am GMT

    Never heard of Bandspeed. If they were the leader in Wi-Fi management I should have known about them, no? Also, this isn't a patent, this is a design/functionality decision. It isn't something that is viable to sue someone over.

  • Somajan

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 3:41 pm GMT

    This is like a new industry. The Patent Lawsuit.

  • Reiken37

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 5:19 am GMT

    So they really think that this will be worth it? This trail will drag on, and Nintendo and other companies will run Bandspeed out of it's wallet. Nice Patents, why did you wait so long to use them

  • Hitamaru-homia

    Posted Nov 2, 2009 5:43 pm GMT

    So if they lose to THE 3 HUGE GIANTS they will have to pay their lawyers fees. Its a risky move.

  • peteyday

    Posted Oct 25, 2009 8:37 am GMT

    Bandspeed best get some damn good lawyers.

  • 00Joseph00

    Posted Oct 13, 2009 5:30 am GMT

    Texas aint the dumbest place on Earth. George W. Bush is from there!

  • TJSpyke

    Posted Oct 12, 2009 8:32 pm GMT

    Vin_LAURiA, the companies usually are not in Texas. They just file the lawsuit there because the district there is well known for siding with the patent holders. I agree with you though. It annoys me these companies that take out patents, then do nothing with them until another company comes and actually makes a product. The patents are also usually very vague and broad.

  • Nobri

    Posted Sep 17, 2009 4:07 am GMT

    Hey! Microsoft didn't copy someone this time!

  • Newave

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 9:52 am GMT

    And so joins Bandspeed Inc. the ranks of EA Games, Blizzard, "Square"Enix, Ubisoft, Nintendo and Apple on my boycott list...

  • DioS70

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 9:02 am GMT

    shadowysea07: I forget where mission control of NASA is located? Oh and one of if not the top medical center in the US??

  • Vin_LAURiA

    Posted Sep 14, 2009 1:08 am GMT

    Notice how whenever someone decides to sue one of the big three, it's for something trivial (and always backed up by a vague-as-hell patent,) with no provocation, and they're always some company in Texas that no one's ever heard of?

  • Fz1994

    Posted Aug 30, 2009 11:15 am GMT

    this is rlly stupid!

  • shadowysea07

    Posted Aug 30, 2009 11:14 am GMT

    fail but what do you expect this is form texas the dumbest place on earth

  • that70sguy92

    Posted Aug 30, 2009 8:18 am GMT

    The words ridiculous and pathetic come to mind. Just another company that's run in a basement/trailer looking for some attention and a large settlement.

  • Marker791

    Posted Aug 20, 2009 8:57 am GMT

    thats stupid. What are they going to do,Ban those systems?Geez

  • Kleeyook

    Posted Aug 18, 2009 5:05 am GMT

    ..... most stupid. I failed grammar.

  • Kleeyook

    Posted Aug 18, 2009 5:04 am GMT

    Sometimes, patent could be the stupidest thing ever in history, and this case is one.

  • Jinzo_111887

    Posted Aug 17, 2009 7:08 am GMT

    Did Bandspeed do anything with their patents? If not, they should lose both of them. Patents being used for only lawsuit purposes can hold back some big technological and medical breakthroughs. The Anascape lawsuit was bad enough. There needs to be rules preventing pointless lawsuits. Maybe someone should patent pointless lawsuits and sue the companies that file them.

  • Xzaxs

    Posted Aug 17, 2009 4:03 am GMT

    Are they serious?

  • tsunami2311

    Posted Aug 16, 2009 10:38 pm GMT

    who the hell are they??? I would believe cisco systems was leader in this this over someone I never heard of

  • netsoj

    Posted Aug 16, 2009 7:23 pm GMT

    And this is why there should not be patents for technology. Yay another thing to hinder the advancement of the future.

  • BlueFlameBat

    Posted Aug 16, 2009 7:48 am GMT

    If the patent hadn't been passed by the time Nintendo, Apple, and Sony were using it, then I don't see how they violated it, gameman_500.

  • gameman_500

    Posted Aug 15, 2009 10:45 pm GMT

    blueflamebat, it wasnt brought to the court cuz the patent just passed august 4, so they couldn't sue until it passed

  • BlueFlameBat

    Posted Aug 15, 2009 7:16 am GMT

    Again?! Is Texas sue-happy or something? And once again, why wasn't this brought to court much earlier?!

    I never even heard of Bandspeed, by the way.

    When big companies actually do wrong to smaller companies, the smaller companies have every right to sue; corporate giants shouldn't get away with being bullies. But this is suspicious.

  • agehaelhaym

    Posted Aug 14, 2009 7:56 pm GMT

    That's a joke.

  • Storm_Walker

    Posted Aug 14, 2009 5:48 pm GMT

    Another lawsuit, the small fries are always trying to leech off of the bigwigs aren't they? Who are these Bandspeed guys anyway? If they'd done something so important, they would've been in the news before now and we wouldn't be having this problem. Besides, Nintendo, Sony, and Apple probably do the job better anyway.

  • thenephariouson

    Posted Aug 14, 2009 8:10 am GMT

    jacob5622,

    Your probably right : )

  • jacob5622

    Posted Aug 14, 2009 5:48 am GMT

    It's ok, nothing to see here. Sony, Nintendo and Apple will feel bad for little unknown Bandspeed and give a small settlement. Bandspeed will liquidate, and its 1-2 owners will spend a couple of months in the Bahamas before returning home to their trailers.

  • jojoforpres

    Posted Aug 14, 2009 2:11 am GMT

    Of course this suit comes from Texas. Can we force the entire state to succeed from the union YET!?

  • mybadlife

    Posted Aug 13, 2009 10:44 pm GMT

    4301 Westbank Dr.
    Bldg. B, Suite 100
    Austin, TX 78746
    t| 512.358.9000
    f| 512.358.9001
    info@bandspeed.com

    They're in a suite inside a specific building? If they're the "the leader in next-generation Wi-Fi management", shouldn't they be big enough to have their own building?

    Also, how convenient that the company who claims to be "the leader in next-generation Wi-Fi management" be called "Bandspeed Inc."?

  • Voltergeist

    Posted Aug 13, 2009 9:18 pm GMT

    Probably just another patent troll.

  • TomoEK9

    Posted Aug 13, 2009 1:55 pm GMT

    @campbell153

    What in the balls are you speaking of? Headset technology is not patented.

    The PS3 also uses such technlogy, I regularly use my headset to speak to my friends when gaming. The Wii exluded it because its just something else that would need to go in that would increase both production time and cost.

  • campbell153

    Posted Aug 13, 2009 12:46 pm GMT

    Seem`s a bit pathetic if you ask me... why should it be down to one company to say who can do or use whatever? why should one single company have the monopoly on an idea or whatever? I own a Wii and because of XBOX, Nintendo was not aloud to use the headset technology, so us Wii users can have the same option to talk to friends while gaming!
    I know the gaming industry is a cut throat buisness due to the money that can be made! But even so... come on people... share and share alike!!!

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