Scanner firm sues Everett's Intermec over patent

Symbol Technologies, a maker of bar-code scanners, said it filed a lawsuit accusing Everett-based Intermec Technologies of infringing wireless communication patents.

Intermec, a unit of handheld scanner maker Unova, improperly used Symbol's patented wireless communications technology, Symbol deputy general counsel Aaron Bernstein said in an interview. Symbol, based in Holtsville, N.Y., asked a federal court in Delaware to bar Intermec from using the technology and sought unspecified monetary damages.

Symbol stopped supplying Intermec with miniature readers embedded in product bar codes that can be used to validate betting tickets or identify baggage at airports, the company said in a statement yesterday.

Symbol said it sued after the two companies failed to agree on licensing fees.

"For months, Symbol has negotiated in earnest, seeking a fair business resolution," Peter Lieb, Symbol's lawyer, said in the statement. "There was no alternative but to file suit."

Intermec said yesterday it "strongly believes there is no basis for this lawsuit." The Everett company said the suit was a reaction to its own patent-infringement lawsuit filed against Matrics in June 2004. Symbol purchased Matrics in September 2004. Intermec has charged that Matrics used and sold radio-frequency identification (RFID) products known to infringe Intermec's RFID patents.

"Intermec has gone to great lengths to negotiate an RFID licensing program with Symbol that is consistent with Symbol's historical practices with respect to laser scanning and wireless licensing programs," Intermec President Tom Miller said. "Symbol walked away from the negotiations in the apparent belief that it is entitled to customary terms and conditions for its intellectual property but that Intermec is not entitled to the same."

Two of the four patents Symbol asserts in the Intermec suit were found by a jury in Wilmington, Del., in 2003 to have been infringed by Proxim's wireless equipment, Symbol said.

Proxim, a wireless-networking equipment maker based in Sunnyvale, Calif., agreed last September to pay Symbol $22.75 million and additional royalties to end litigation over wireless technology.

In June 2004, Symbol agreed to pay $138 million to settle criminal and civil investigations as well as investor suits accusing it of accounting fraud.

U.S. prosecutors had said the company inflated revenue by $230 million between 1998 and 2003 to meet analyst expectations.

Intermec's reaction to the suit was reported by Seattle Times business reporter Kristi Heim.