Dell Has Court Pare Down Some Patent Claims

MARSHALL, Texas (CN) - A federal judge narrowed down the wireless products Wi-LAN can include in a patent-infringement lawsuit against Dell.

Dell is among several companies with wireless communication devices that Wi-LAN has accused of infringing two of its patents.

Wi-LAN sued Dell in Federal Court in September 2011. Additional defendants include Apple, Alcatel-Lucent USA, Hewlett-Packard and HTC America.

Dell moved for partial summary judgment of noninfringement. Its motion relies on a stipulation of dismissal that the parties reached in a previous case regarding the same patents currently at issue.

U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap found Monday that Wi-LAN had agreed to drop its claims for infringement of the patents through the date of the stipulation, but only for certain products.

Gilstrap granted summary judgment for claims of infringing activity that allegedly occurred through March 11, 2011, for those products that Wi-LAN already brought up in the previous lawsuit.

The judge also found, however, that Wi-LAN can proceed with its claims against Dell so long as the accused products came into existence after March 11, 2011, or were products that Wi-LAN did not previously address in the earlier lawsuit.