Press Releases
United States Appellate Court Rules in Buffalo
24/09/2008
The Australian science agency CSIRO sued Buffalo Inc. and its US affiliate Buffalo Technology (USA) Inc. in a United States district court, alleging that Buffalo’s products infringed its U.S. Patent 5,487,069, which concerns Wi-Fi technology relating to the transmission of wireless signals. After the district court held that Buffalo’s products infringed certain claims of the patent and that those claims were valid, the district court ordered Buffalo to stop selling its allegedly infringing products in the U.S. Buffalo appealed that order to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
On September 19, 2008, the Federal Circuit ruled in Buffalo’s favor and has remanded this case to the district court ruling that the district court’s Summary Judgment was insufficient on the merits of obviousness of CSIRO patent. Therefore, this case will be tried again before the district court.
In this connection Buffalo is hopeful that it will shortly be permitted to, once again, sell IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g compliant products in the United States. The US ruling does not have any legal implications on Buffalo Technology in EMEA nor sales of Buffalo's wireless products within these regions.
“Buffalo appreciates the rulings of the Federal Circuit and are very pleased to have an opportunity to get our case defended at jury trial” said Masanao Tsuzuki, Director of Buffalo Inc.
Buffalo expects that the district court will, in the near future, schedule a trial on whether the patent claims are invalid because the claims were “obvious” at the time CSIRO filed for its patent, and will put forth every effort to prevail the retrial at the district court.
About Buffalo Technology
Buffalo is a global manufacturer of innovative wireless networking, storage and multimedia solutions for the home and small business environments. The company is recognised as the Number 1 total PC peripheral manufacturer in Japan, and was the worldwide consumer NAS market leader in 2005 and 2006 (In-Stat).
Buffalo's product portfolio includes its award-winning AirStation™ line of easy-to-use, high-performance wireless networking products for SME/SoHo and home users. With industry-leading AOSS™ (AirStation One-Touch Secure System) technology, users can simply build a secure wireless network at home or in the office at the push of a button.
The company's storage solutions are addressing the needs of both the individual and the business, providing a versatile line of USB flash drives, portable and desktop hard drives and cost-effective network attached storage (NAS) solutions. Including its multimedia players, Buffalo is unique in offering integrated WLAN, storage and multimedia solutions for the digital home environment.
Buffalo's strong international industry alliances with companies such as Intel, Broadcom™, Nintendo and Microsoft have allowed it to lead the industry in the development of the latest technologies into practical tools for the business and the home.
Headquartered in Japan, Buffalo Technology has offices in the UK, Ireland, Germany, USA and Taiwan. For more information please visit www.buffalo-technology.com.
Buffalo, Inc. trademark statements. Buffalo is a trademark of Buffalo, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
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