CSIRO's Battle of Intellectual Property Rights with IT Giants is Settled. (April 23, 2009)

The lawsuits against the technology companies had been running since 2005. CSIRO has had a running battle with fourteen of IT's heavyweights and middleweights regarding whether or not they have infringed the 1996 patent CSIRO holds on the 802.11 wireless standard.

Mike Whelan, CSIRO's deputy chief executive, operations told The Sydney Morning Herald that the organisation had required a team of 30 people working for the CSIRO to prosecute the case against the companies that were party to the litigation. This was brought about in part by several companies launching counter-cases in an attempt to invalidate the patent which resulted in CSIRO being "embroiled in four separate cases against the companies".

SMH reports that this past Monday "a judge in Texas finalised the settlement after the last of the 14 companies accused of infringing CSIRO's patent agreed to negotiate. Under the terms of the settlement CSIRO was prevented from broadcasting news of the resolution, which is why it has only now filtered out".

Although all fourteen agreements are covered by confidentiality agreements Mr Whelan did say they included one-off compensation payments, agreements to pay ongoing royalties or a combination of the two: "In aggregate, it will present the largest amount from IP [intellectual property] that this organisation has ever earned. We are going to reinvest the proceeds into further research."

The lawsuit was being heard by a jury of eight in the US District Court, in Tyler, Texas, which, according to the Herald has become known as a "jurisdiction that has become a hunting ground for organisations seeking to defend their intellectual property rights".

CSIRO Chief Executive, Megan Clark said: "The commercial proceeds from CSIRO's licensing programs are invested into further research that will be for the benefit of Australia."