Microsoft ordered to pay $490M in Patent infringement case.

Image via CrunchBase

A small Canadian technology firm, i4iLP , is being heralded as the "David" who took Goliath to court and won. Microsoft was ordered to pay i4i $290 Million in a Texas court for infringing i4i's patents in xml, as they were utilized in it's MS word product. Not only has the court found in favor of i4i and ordered the reward, but it has also ordered Microsoft "not to sell" MS Word in the United States.

The case is: i4i Limited Partnership and Infrastructures for Information Inc vs Microsoft Corp, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, No. 6:07CV113.

This case is not unlike a similar Texas court case involving another small Canadian Company, Wilan Technology Inc , who has sued 20 major wireless companies including Apple and Intel, for infringing on it's many wireless patents for Wimax, Wifi and other applications.

Wilan , (WIN/TSX) traded yesterday at $2.18 per share. It has already won patent infringement lawsuits against other wireless companies and has signed licensing agreements with 180 Tech companies over the past two years. I happen to believe it is extremely undervalued. that is why I increased my position this spring by over tenfold.

Some legitimate bloggers (and some infringing companies disguised as bloggers) like to vilify such companies, calling them "patent trolls" etc. however in these two cases, they would be wrong. In both cases the companies were started up in the early 90's by serious techies with great ideas, who created great technology but didn't have the legal know how or resources to protect their intellectual property.

It appears that i4i took a patient route in protecting their xml technology against the infringing company, Microsoft. Wilan's problem was that, because it owns so many of the underlying patents for current wireless technology, (over 550 patents) that many companies would not have the products they have (blackberry, ipod etc) had they not infringed on Wilan's patents. Because of this, two years ago, Wilan replaced it's tech centric CEO with a top U.S. patent lawyer, Jim Skippen, and from that moment on, a professional team was put into place to go after the infringing companies.

The first results have been many licensing agreements with the likes of RIM (Blackberry), Nokia, Westinghouse, Agilent, TigerDirect, Casio, Infinion, Samsung, Fujitsu and many more companies who were infringing on it's patents. 20 others, including some of the largest like Intel, Apple, Motorola, Broadcom, Acer, Marvell and Sony, are currently in a Texas court trying to fend off the inevitable.

The Patents number 550 and include: (from http://Wilan.com)

CDMA – A third generation wireless platform

DOCSIS – A standards-based technology to provide high speed internet and other data over coaxial cable networks

DSL – A standards-based access technology that provides broadband Internet access over twisted pair telecommunications wiring

Wi-Fi - The underlying technology of wireless local area networks and other products based on IEEE 802.11 specifications

WiMAX (4G) – Broadband wireless technology that provides longer-range wireless connectivity based on IEEE 802.16 specifications

V-Chip – The V-Chip patents allow the user of multimedia devices to filter out programming they consider inappropriate for their children to watch, whether that be from a Television broadcast, DVD/VCR/DVDR or Computers that have the ability to receive and process broadcast signals. The Federal Communications Commission has mandated that the V-Chip be included in all digital television receivers and digital reception devices offered for sale in the United States.

A number of followers, including this writer, believe that Wilan will be trading between $5 and $10 by the end of the year. Personally I think it is a $25 stock in waiting. that is why I have increased my holdings so much. It now pays dividends, albeit small, but the outlook for years to come is very bright. It owns great technology, has a dedicated hard working management team, has increased it's income solidly during the worst financial crisis since WW2 and it continues to sign dozens of new licensees every month.

Caution, don't invest in this or "any" company based on what you read in blogs. Do your own research, and consult with an experienced investment adviser before you buy any stock or mutual fund and always remember:

"Look after the pennies, and dollars will look after themselves"!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Judge issues injunction against sales of Microsoft Word (msnbc.msn.com)
• Microsoft barred from selling Word in U.S. (cbc.ca)
• Judge Tells Microsoft It Can't Sell Word In U.S. [Patents] (consumerist.com)
• Small Toronto firm wins $290M suit against Microsoft (thestar.com)
• Meraki: Internet usage via handheld devices soars (news.cnet.com)

This smart company is making the big guns of wireless pay dearly!

Image via Wikipedia

Two weeks ago, I mentioned I ran across a recommendation by Greg Reid CFA, at Silicon Investor regarding Wi-Lan Technologies Inc. WIN-TSX

I mentioned that I had increased our holdings in Wi-Lan by a factor of 10. I did that in Early March and since that time (approx 90 days) we have made a paper profit of 33%.

Now 33% is a great rate of return over 3 years, let alone 3 months!

You might expect that I would sell that stock and solidify my returns, but you would be wrong.

You see, I have been following Wilan for years, since the time it was a manufacturer of high tech gear for the internet economy such as cdma, wireless lan, Docsis, dsl, wi-fi, wi-max, and the V-chip, among many others. Currently, Over 550 patents are now held by a WiLan Technologies .

I have owned the stock for about 9 years.

Now it is time to reap the rewards of that patience! You see, several years ago, the management/Board at Wilan realized that their true value lay in their intellectual property in the form of patents for many wireless functions which have since been adopted by such firms as: Research in Motion, Motorola, Intel, Apple, Infinion, D-link, Acer, Westel, Broadcom, Marvell, and Sony, and many other companies who use wireless technologies from Cell phones to laptops and smart phones.

The company replaced their "Tech Centric" CEO, with one of America's best ligation, patent lawyers, Jim Skippen, less than two years ago. An Entire team was then hired to ensure the leveraging of those patent assets. Since that time, Wi-Lan has signed licensing contracts with many high tech, high flyers, such as RIM, Motorola, Samsung, Westinghouse, Casio, TigerDirect, Infinion, etc, and is signing many more at a dizzying rate.

There are some holdouts such as Intel, Motorola (LG) etc, but they are in a Texas Court at this writing, trying to fight off the inevitable.

The bottom line is that, Many of the worlds tech and wireless companies, including the biggest, will be licensing Wi-Lan Technology for many years to come.

Although many investors are actually day traders, I subscribe to the "Buffett" theory that patience is a virtue.

I won't sell my stake in WiLan anytime soon for several reasons. First, many industry experts feel that Wilan (now trading in the $2 range) is at very least, a $10 stock. Some believe that $20-$25 is more in line with future growth as these patent licenses pay off month after month from here on in. Second, I will be very surprised if I don't get a return in the 1,000 % range, this year!

That is why I bought the stock 9 years ago!
That is why I increased my holdings 10 fold in March!
That is why I am going to "double down" on that bet sometime today!

Update June 11 - up 58% - Wilan trading at 2.45 today. bids 300% higher than asks.
As of April 30, the firm had signed 62 wireless and 112 V-chip licences with over 100 companies.

Article from the Ottawa Citizen Valuable Company

Update June 25th - Wilan Dips. Buying more! Will buy on the dips!

Other commentaries from other sites/sources about Wilan Technologies!

Business Week
GlobeInvestor
TeleClick
Wimax.com
Reuters

Related articles by Zemanta

• Apple and RIM to share more than half of cellphone industry profits this year (venturebeat.com)
• Apple, others agree to universal cell phone charger standard in Europe (news.cnet.com)
• Apple adding 3G to MacBooks? (news.cnet.com)
• Motorola turns to consumer electronics (news.cnet.com)