Intermec-Symbol patent battle heats up

Intermec Technologies Corp. on Thursday hit back in an ongoing dispute with Symbol Technologies Inc., suing the wireless technology vendor for alleged infringement of several Intermec patents.

The action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware follows a double whammy from Symbol on March 10, when the company sued Intermec for alleged patent infringement and pulled out of an arrangement in which it supplied laser scan engines to Intermec for use in bar-code scanning equipment. In a statement Thursday, Intermec said Symbol had illegally ended that deal and made unfounded patent claims.

Both companies make bar code and RFID (radio frequency identification) systems, which can be used for point of sale, inventory and other applications. The clash follows a long but unsuccessful series of negotiations toward a cross-licensing agreement for the technology each brings to the table, according to Aaron Bernstein, vice president and deputy general counsel, intellectual property, at Symbol, in Holtsville, New York.

Intermec, in Everett, Washington, is seeking unspecified damages and a permanent injunction against Symbol to prevent further infringement, according to an Intermec statement. The company alleges Symbol infringed six patents that cover a wireless data capture system capable of distributing data over a network, battery-powered data processing devices that can run a multitasking operating system and handheld data capture devices with graphical user interfaces and the capability to use handwritten input, the statement said.

Symbol is not infringing Intermec's patents, and the terms of the supply agreement allowed either party to pull out if the other sued, Bernstein said. Intermec earlier had sued Symbol for alleged infringement of RFID patents, according to Symbol.

Intermec believes Symbol became fair game for a lawsuit as soon as it pulled out of the agreement, according to the company statement. Intermec said it had anticipated the pullout and won't be affected because it has inventory and outside sources of laser scan engines. Intermec will come out with its own engine later this year, the statement said.

In the March 10 claim against Intermec, filed in the same court as Thursday's action, Symbol charged that the company infringed Symbol patents related to IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN technology. It also is seeking a permanent injunction and unspecified damages. The widely used 802.11 standard is based in part on Symbol patents, which the company licenses on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, Bernstein said.

By contrast, Intermec has reserved the right to license its intellectual property for RFID systems on discriminatory terms or not license it all, according to Bernstein. Symbol believes that strategy could thwart wide-scale use of RFID, which has been envisioned as a tool for tracking inventory, corporate assets, passports and even casino chips.

Intermec officials were not immediately available to comment. Intermec is a subsidiary of Unova Inc., also based in Everett.