MultiTech cries foul over patents

Peripherals vendor MultiTech Systems filed a lawsuit last week against Compaq, Dell and Gateway, alleging that the PC manufacturers infringed six patents filed by the company in January 1993.

Peripherals vendor MultiTech Systems filed a lawsuit last week against Compaq, Dell and Gateway, alleging that the PC manufacturers infringed six patents filed by the company in January 1993.

In the lawsuit, MultiTech alleges that all three companies infringed its voice, data and video technology patents.

MultiTech has 22 patented rights related to the combined use of a modem, sound card, speakers, microphone and software.

The company claims any PC maker using this combination of technologies for voice and video is infringing on its patent.

The three companies have been served with the lawsuit, said Ron Schutz, head of intellectual properties litigation at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, MultiTech's law firm. He said he expects the lawsuit to go to trial. "This is a fairly significant lawsuit. A lot of effort and money went into obtaining the portfolio, and if they want it, they have to pay for it," said Schutz.

But a Compaq representative said it had not received a copy of the lawsuit, while Dell and Gateway were unavailable for comment.

A letter was sent informing Compaq of the infringement in November 1996, and the same letter was sent to Dell and Gateway in December 1997, Schutz said.

Similar letters were sent to numerous other PC manufacturers, but those letters did not warn of possible litigation, he said.

"Every computer manufacturer is probably using this combination of technologies, but suing 100 people is unwieldy, so we picked the biggest three," Schutz said. "We intend to contact other companies to tell them about the patent and give them a chance to license the technology."

The technology is being used in both consumer and business PCs, Schutz said.