Australian broadband communications technology company QPSX Ltd. has filed a patent infringement writ in Germany seeking 125 million marks (US$57.6 million) in compensation from Siemens AG and Deutsche Telekom AG over a technology called SAR (Segmentation and Reassembly).
QPSX says that the action taken in Germany will be the beginning of a worldwide licensing program to enforce its patents over SAR, which in the form of the IEEE standard 802.6 is now embedded in the ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) protocol, QPSX said in a statement Thursday.
The company will pursue action against companies in Canada, the U.S. and probably the U.K. in subsequent phases of the licensing program. It was granted patents for SAR in both Germany and the U.K. in 1997, QPSX said.
“The SAR technology is fundamental to broadband telecommunications. It provides a foundation for ensuring quality of service for Internet communications. QPSX’s intellectual property is utilized in core telecom switch infrastructure over which the majority of Internet traffic travels,” the company said.
The area of the enforcement will be wide, according to QPSX. Any companies manufacturing equipment conforming to the relevant international standards, vendors of that equipment and end users – typically telecommunications operators and ISPs (Internet service providers) – are infringing the company’s patents, according to the statement.
In the German writ, QPSX is expecting royalty payments backdated to 1997 and ongoing through the life of the patent, which expires in 2008. The company chose to launch its SAR patent rights program in Germany on legal and financial advice, according to the statement.
“We are now acting to demonstrate QPSX’s resolve in pursuing the licensing program with potential licensees. However, we want to ensure that negotiations are amicable and not unduly drawn out,” the company said in the statement.
QPSX CEO Graham Griffiths was not immediately available for comment on the writ.
QPSX estimates that the global market for products covered by the patents will be worth A$97 billion through 2008.
QPSX, in Perth, Australia, can be contacted at http://www.qpsx.com/.
