The lawsuit involves six US patents, three of which, according
to Agere, are essential for making chips comply with the 802.11b
wireless local area networking (WLAN) standard, better known as
Wi-Fi, a technology that is an increasingly popular alternative to
fixed-line corporate networks.
Agere claims that it previously agreed to make these
standards-based patents available on "reasonable terms and
conditions", but that Intersil has not paid for their use. Agere
adds that it attempted to negotiate a licence with Intersil without
success before suing.
Agere is seeking monetary damages, legal costs and a court order
to stop Intersil using the patents in its products.
Intersil has rejected the allegations and says that Agere's
claims are "without merit."
You can find out more about Wi-Fi at WhatIs.com:
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci838865,00.html
