CSR to pay $15 million to settle patent lawsuit

CSR, a maker of microchips for mobile phones, agreed to pay $15 million to end a lawsuit brought by the Seattle-based Washington Research Foundation (WRF) over patents covering Bluetooth wireless-communication chips.

The nonprofit foundation, a licensing arm of the University of Washington, sued CSR customers Matsushita Electric Industrial, Samsung and Nokia over Bluetooth technology in Seattle federal court in December.

CSR, based in Cambridge, England, entered the case in January and countersued.

The foundation added Apple, Dell and Sony as defendants March 15, along with Logitech International, Motorola, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, Toshiba and Plantronics.

"The case is resolved with respect to CSR," said Steven Lisa, lawyer for the nonprofit foundation.

The case against the other companies will be dismissed "without prejudice" with respect to products not made by CSR and Broadcom, which licenses the patents, meaning the foundation reserves the right to sue, he said.

The suit threatened the companies' ability to deliver wireless capabilities to customers. They were accused of infringing four patents covering technology that lets customers exchange data among mobile phones, personal computers and other devices without using cables.

The foundation's lawsuit sought money damages and a court order barring the sale of products that use the patented technology.

"CSR has obtained from WRF an undertaking not to sue CSR, its suppliers, customers or end users for alleged infringement by CSR products of the patents asserted in the suit," CSR said in a statement.

"CSR remains of the view that WRF's patent-infringement suit against its Bluetooth chips is without merit," it said.

Lisa said terms of the settlement are confidential. "We believe this is a good result for the Washington Research Foundation," he said.

The patents trace back to Ed Suominen, a student who was studying radio design at the University of Washington before receiving a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1995.

Suominen gave the rights to the patents to the UW, which, in turn, exclusively licensed the patents to the foundation to manage.

Information from The Seattle Times archives is included in this report.