Wi-LAN Acquires OFDM Patents from Bristol University

Wi-LAN Inc. announced it has acquired six important OFDM patents relating to Wi-Fi and WiMAX from the University of Bristol in England for a total consideration of $300,000 (U.S.). The patents, which are related to radio receivers using OFDM technology, further extend Wi-LAN’s portfolio coverage in Europe and Japan. Currently no other parties are licensed to these patents.

“This acquisition broadens the geographic scope of our OFDM patent coverage,” said Jung Yee, CTO. “We believe many of today’s higher-performance Wi-Fi and WiMAX products will likely infringe these patents. It is also likely that many future OFDM-based products will implement inventions covered by these patents.”

“Patent licensing is a business where strength in numbers applies,” added Jim Skippen, President & CEO. “This increased patent coverage should allow us to read our patents on more and more products and a larger proportion of sales of prospective licensees. It will make it even more compelling for companies to take a license to the Wi-LAN portfolio.”