US consumers will be making a multimillion dollar donation to an Australian government agency in the near future, whether they like it or not. The great majority won’t even know about it—the fee will be hidden within the cost of a huge array of tech products. After the resolution of a recent lawsuit, practically every wireless-enabled device sold in the US will now involve a payment to an Australian research organization called the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or CSIRO.
In the culmination of a nearly decade-long patent campaign, CSIRO has now scored a $229 million settlement from a group of nine companies that make a variety of wireless devices and chips, including Broadcom, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Lenovo. The settlement was reached last week just before the companies were scheduled to face a jury in Tyler, Texas—a location with a growing reputation for patent lawsuits.
CSIRO (commonly pronounced “si-rohâ€) adds this lump sum to the $205 million it received in 2009, when a settlement with 14 companies was struck midway through another East Texas trial. Soon after that, CSIRO began boasting to the Australian press that WiFi was a homegrown invention. By suing over its patents, it anticipated an additional “lazy billion” out of tech products sold in the US. Ultimately, this didn’t quite happen—but CSIRO is about halfway there.
from Ars Technica