Two Motorola subsidiaries sued Aruba Networks Aug. 27 for allegedly infringing on four patents related to wireless technology. The two subsidiaries—Symbol Technologies and Wireless Valley Communications—are seeking treble damages for willful infringement and a permanent injunction.
According to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, Symbol claims that Aruba, of Sunnyvale, Calif., infringes on Symbol patents involving WLAN (wireless local area network) security and “wireless switch architecture” covering multiple WLANs with overlapping physical spaces.
The two Wireless Valley patents involve a predictive design approach where a three-dimensional representation of a wireless environment is used in designing networks.
Neither Motorola nor Aruba had further comments on the lawsuit.
Symbol, which was acquired by Motorola last year for $3.9 billion, is no stranger to lawsuits.
In 2006, Symbol settled a long-running legal dispute with Intermec Technologies related to Intermecs RFID (radio frequency identification) technology. Symbol sued Intermec for infringing on its wireless patents. Intermec, in turn, countersued Symbol for patent infringement.
Under the terms of the final agreement, Symbol joined Intermecs RFID licensing program. Symbol also agreed to provide Intermec with access to Symbols RFID intellectual property through a cross-licensing program.
