Intermec suspends radio-tag patent claims
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Intermec, the Everett company that makes radio-frequency sensor devices, said yesterday it agreed to temporarily suspend its claims for intellectual-property licenses as part of a new standard.
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A U.S. federal judge has clamped further restrictions on Qualcomm&#39;s ability to sell and support certain wireless chip sets, saying that they infringe on three patents held by rival Broadcom.
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Wireless vendor Symbol Technologies Inc. has told us it will be seeking a big license fee from all Wi-Fi equipment vendors for an infringed patent. And according to one manufacturer, Proxim Corp., it stands a good chance of getting it.
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(InfoWorld) - The widely reported dispute between security firm IOActive and secure card maker HID has raised awareness about the risks associated with RFID proximity cards and may prompt DHS warnings to government agencies about use of the technology. Representatives from IOActive, Black Hat, the ACLU, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security laid bare the vulnerabilities inherent in the popular proximity cards and debated with a HID representative at a panel discussion about RFID vulnerabilities that was part of the Black Hat Federal security conference. While the discussion did little to resolve the disagreements over the cancellation of a planned RFID hacking session, the publicity around the incident may prompt greater scrutiny of RFID security in the public and private spheres, panel members agreed. The panel discussion at Black Hat followed an abbreviated version of a presentation on RFID security by Chris Paget, director of research and development at IOActive. IOActive said on Tuesday that it was pulling its presentation under threat of legal action from HID, which claimed that Paget's discussion of methods for creating an RFID cloning device would violate two HID patents on RFID technology. After discussing RFID technology at a high level and possible security concerns arising from RFID, Paget informed the audience that he couldn't discuss those vulnerabilities further. Instead, he presented a number of slides that excerpted a letter from HID's attorneys and that seemed to suggest that HID had demanded IOActive not present any information at Black Hat. The slides ran contrary to an HID statement late Tuesday that said the company never demanded that Paget cancel his talk. "HID Global did not threaten IOActive or Chris Paget, its Director of Research and Development, to stop its presentation at the Black Hat event being held in Washington, DC on Wednesday, February 28, 2007. HID Global, acting in the best interests of its customers worldwide, simply informed IOActive and its management of the patents that currently protect HID Global intellectual property," the e-mail statement read. Mike Davis, director of intellectual property at HID, defended that position and the company's efforts to suppress the presentation of schematics and source code concerning its RFID proximity cards. In sometimes testy exchanges with Paget and Dan Kaminsky of IOActive and in comments to InfoWorld after the panel, Davis said that his company was "ambushed" by IOActive and never threatened to sue Paget or IOActive. "We never intended to sue IOActive," Davis said, noting that the company only became aware of the issue on the 14th after Paget contacted them in an e-mail but took a week to formulate a response. Differences between the free-wheeling IT security community and a more closed physical security industry may be partially to blame, according to Joe Grand, a security researcher at Grand Idea Studio. "Hardware companies are generally not involved in the security process, so they don't know anything about disclosure. So their response is, 'Let's throw down the hammer,'" he said. While the specifics of the dispute between HID and IOActive are shrouded by legal maneuvers, there was general agreement that insecure RFID deployments are a big problem that needs to be addressed soon. "RFID is not a new technology. It's been around for decades, but its going mainstream," Grand said. In a wide-ranging panel discussion that followed Paget, Nicole Ozer, an attorney with the ACLU; Black Hat director Jeff Moss; Mike Witt, a Deputy Director of U.S. CERT (Computer Emergency Readiness Team), and security researchers Kaminsky and Grand said the right of independent security researchers to investigate problems like the vulnerabilities in RFID proximity cards was critical to protect. Witt of DHS said that U.S. CERT said that DHS often serves as an intermediary between researchers and companies, especially when there is a concern about legal dangers in outing security holes. The agency generally gives companies 45 days to respond to reports of serious security holes in their products, he said. U.S. CERT is now working with both IOActive and HID to investigate the issue and may issue a vulnerability notice concerning the security flaws in HID proximity cards, said Mike Witt, a deputy director of U.S. CERT. Witt said that use of HID proximity cards was widespread in the government, but he didn't say whether DHS used the vulnerable RFID proximity cards. Ozer of the ACLU said that HID's efforts to suppress discussion of flaws in its RFID proximity cards may have the opposite effect: stirring discussion about the vulnerable cards, which are often used to access buildings, data centers, and other sensitive facilities. With RFID technology working its way into passports and drivers licenses, U.S. citizens need to be sure that the documents they are required to carry are not vulnerable to cloning or data theft, Ozer said.
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Season of goodwill to all IT companies Motorola and Metrologic have settled a half-decade long patent dispute, which the comms giant inherited when it bought Symbol Technologies almost a year ago.â¦
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The company that makes half the flu vaccine used in the U.S. was suspended for manufacturing problems.
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After having waited for a jury's verdict last month to withstand judicial review, the International Trade Commission this morning upheld a decision to ban the import of certain goods containing Qualcomm chipsets into the US. The banned devices are mobile handsets whose use of EV-DO and W-CDMA technology was found to have infringed upon three of Broadcom's patents.
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Research in Motion lost part of the case on appeal, but it&#39;s not over until it&#39;s over. Specifically, the patent infringement finding against the maker of the email device was upheld by the appeals court.
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The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has voted to investigate claims by Trend Micro of competitors&#39; patent infringement involving antivirus products.Trend Micro filed a trade complaint Nov. 21 against fellow cybersecurity vendors Barracuda Networks of Campbell, California; Panda Software International, based in Spain; and Panda Distribution of Glendale, California.Trend Micro&#39;s complaint accuses the three companies of infringing its patent for virus detection and removal apparatus for computer networks. The technology &quot;represents a dramatic departure from the traditional antivirus methods of safeguarding individual computers,&quot; the company says in its complaint.The Trend Micro complaint accuses Barracuda of importing antivirus software that infringes its patent. The complaint says Barracuda uses code from the open-source antivirus product ClamAV, which is written in part in Europe and Australia. Barracuda also imports hardware components, the complaint says.Panda&#39;s products also contain code imported into the U.S., the Trend Micro complaint says.A Barracuda spokeswoman said the complaint is curious. &quot;It is interesting that the ITC has decided to take up an investigation, given Barracuda Networks manufactures all of its products in the United States and does not import anything of significance,&quot; said Kylie Heintz.A Panda representative didn&#39;t immediately respond to a request for comments.The ITC case will be referred to an administrative law judge, who will schedule and hold an evidentiary hearing. The judge will make an initial determination as to whether there is a violation of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. That initial determination is subject to commission review.The ITC will make a final determination in the investigation at the earliest practicable time, the commission said in a news release. Within 45 days, the ITC will set a target date for completing the investigation.
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The U.S. International Trade  Commission (ITC) has denied Qualcomm Inc.'s  request to  stay an order banning imports of new phones with Qualcomm chips  that the agency said infringe a Broadcom Corp.  patent.
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A U.S. federal judge has clamped further restrictions on Qualcomm&#39;s ability to sell and support certain wireless chip sets, saying that they infringe on three patents held by rival Broadcom.The injunction, issued Monday by U.S. District Court Judge James Selna, prohibits Qualcomm from making and selling certain third generation (3G) chip sets, used to provide Internet access to mobile phones. Qualcomm is also barred from engaging in a range of marketing and customer support activities related to its WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and EV-DO (EVolution-Data Only) chips, which are used to process data on high-speed wireless networks.The ruling is the latest in a series of actions in the long-running dispute between the two chip vendors. In July, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)&#160;ruled that Qualcomm infringed Broadcom patents&#160;and barred Qualcomm from importing chips to the U.S., but the Commission allowed mobile phone vendors to ship the chips in their products.&quot;The ITC order did not go nearly as far in prohibiting other activities from Qualcomm,&quot; said David Rosmann, vice president of intellectual property litigation with Broadcom. &quot;The U.S. District Court order has in some respects much broader remedies. So the activities that are going to be barred by this injunction go a long way to&#160;stopping Qualcomm&#39;s continued operations&#160;in support of these infringing chips.&quot;Broadcom sued Qualcomm in May 2005, claiming that Qualcomm&#39;s chips violated three of the company&#39;s patents. In May of this year, a&#160;jury found in Broadcom&#39;s favor&#160;and awarded the company $19.6 million in damages. Monday&#39;s injunction stems from that decision.Broadcom is also suing Qualcomm on other patent infringement and antitrust claims, Rosmann said. The antitrust case is expected to go to trial in 2009.Qualcomm executives could not be reached immediately for comment.
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NEW YORK, December 15  - A US appeal court has upheld a lower courtâs decision that Research in Motion (RIMM.NAS) had infringed on the patents held by NTP, while canceling an injunction preventing the sales of Blackberry email devices
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Import injunction sought while patent violation case pends
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Controversial new EU rules for the patenting of computer-based inventions have been put on hold due to a last minute intervention from Poland.
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The US National Institutes of Health halted an Alzheimer&#39;s prevention study of Pfizer Inc.&#39;s Celebrex painkiller and the generic naproxen drug because of a heart risk.
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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about the generic drug naproxen, after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) halted a clinical trial involving patients at risk of developing Alzheimers.
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Against all expectations, the final vote on the European software patents directive was postponed this afternoon. The Polish Minister of Science and Information Technology, Wlodzimierz Marcinski, made a special