Despite a lack of movement since the Washington Research Foundation's (WRF) complaint Dec. 21, 2006, the lawsuit over patent infringement in the Bluetooth industry came to life again Tuesday.

Cambridge Silicon Radio filed a motion in the United States District Court, Seattle, requesting to step in for the current defendants Nokia, Panasonic and Samsung, which are all customers of CSR. The motion also demands that the '963 patent be made invalid.

According to the motion, "CSR seeks to intervene in this action to protect its interests and the interests of its customers."

CSR defends this motion to intervene by claiming they have the right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2).

According to 24(a)(2), "Upon timely application, anyone shall be permitted to intervene in an action ...(b) when the applicant claims an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action and the applicant is so situated that the disposition of the action may be as a practical matter impair or impede the applicant's ability to protect that interest, unless the applicant's interest is adequately represented by existing parties."

A loss in the suit would require that giants of the electronics world — Nokia, Panasonic and Samsung — start purchasing chipsets from CSR's competitor, Broadcom, or that CSR would need to buy a license for the patented material from WRF if their products make it over American borders in the future.

The motion also asserts that because the workings of CSR's chipsets are a matter of confidentiality within the technological world, only CSR could represent how its chipsets do not infringe on the '963 patent.

The movement by CSR to intervene may come as a surprise to some, but not to all.

"It doesn't surprise me, not especially," said John Reagh, managing director of WRF. "I've read their petition; they said that they wanted to be sure their interests were well represented. They don't want to lose customers or money by having to buy a license from WRF."

CSR's second demand, that the patent be voided, lacks as much support within the motion.

According to the motion, "The '963 Patent is invalid for failing to meet one or more of the requirements for patentability set forth in 35 U.S.C. 101, 102, 103, and 112."

Neither the verbiage of the requirements nor the specific ways in which the patent failed to meet the requirements was listed within the motion.

The lawsuit has brought up a distinct fear amongst Bluetooth patrons, however: royalties.

As of now, there is no charge for using the Bluetooth technology. After buying the initial device (which typically costs more if capable of Bluetooth), users can send and receive data without having to worry about fees.

The potential that CSR be required to buy a license from WRF (depending on the outcome of the lawsuit) has some worried that the added cost to CSR could translate to extra cost for the consumer in the form of a regular fee for the use of Bluetooth.

This, in turn, would fly in the face of an organization called the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG).

"The Bluetooth SIG is a privately held, not-for-profit trade association," said Mike Foley, executive director of SIG. "The SIG does not make, manufacture or sell Bluetooth-enabled products. The SIG is comprised of more than 7,000 member companies across the globe. SIG members drive the development of Bluetooth wireless technology, and implement and market the technology in their products. The members also allow the SIG to grant royalty-free licenses to necessary patent claims on their behalf to other SIG members."

To some, WRF charging a licensing fee to members of SIG seems to contradict its mission of royalty-free technological development known as the Bluetooth standard.

However, Foley said he does not think the lawsuit will affect the Bluetooth standard SIG has created.

"With the information currently available, the SIG does not believe that the lawsuit filed by the Washington Research Foundation will impact how the Bluetooth technology specification is written or how the Bluetooth SIG operates," Foley said.

Reach reporter Camden Swita at news@thedaily.washington.edu.