Court Refuses to Strike Wi-LAN's Claim for Punitive Damages against D-Link
“Although it is early in the process, this is encouraging news for us in our case against D-Link”
OTTAWA, Canada – August 24, 2006 – Wi-LAN Inc. (TSX: WIN) announced today that on August 21, 2006, the Federal Court of Canada refused to strike Wi-LAN’s claim for punitive damages in its Statement of Claim against D-Link Canada Inc. and D-Link Systems Inc.
In a motion brought by D-Link and heard by the Federal Court of Canada, D-Link requested that several paragraphs in the Wi-LAN Statement of Claim be struck by the Court. Although the Court did strike paragraph 1(e), which Wi-LAN considers inconsequential, the Court refused to grant D-Link’s motion with respect to most of the paragraphs it requested be struck from the Statement of Claim.
Of particular significance, the Court refused to strike Paragraph I(f) from the Claim requesting the Court award punitive damages to Wi-LAN. The Court also refused to strike Paragraph 13 which states, among other things, that “[D-Link] did not enter into negotiations for a license but rather unreasonably, willfully and callously ignored [Wi-LAN] and the Patent. [D-Link] callously adopted the attitude that [Wi-LAN] would lack the financial resources to enforce its Patent.”
“Although it is early in the process, this is encouraging news for us in our case against D-Link”, said Jim Skippen, President and CEO of Wi-LAN. “We believe that it is important for Wi-LAN to have the ability to seek punitive damages from D-Link, since we believe this is a case in which punitive damages are warranted. Of course, we prefer resolving this type of dispute without resorting to the courts, however we will vigorously protect our rights if necessary in order to ensure that our shareholders receive fair value from companies who use our patented technology. Moreover, given our two recent financings, we now have the financial ability to aggressively defend our intellectual property, and we intend to do so.”
The Court also requested Wi-LAN to provide further particulars concerning its claims of infringement, which Wi-LAN considers procedural and not materially significant to Wi-LAN.
On May 16, 2006, Wi-LAN announced that it had filed and served a lawsuit against D-Link Canada Inc. in the Federal Court of Canada for infringement of Wi-LAN’s Canadian patent 2,064,975. Wi-LAN had filed the suit in early April but had not served the Statement of Claim while attempting to reach an out of court resolution to the issue. Also named in the suit is D-Link’s U.S. subsidiary, D-Link Systems Inc.
Wi-LAN has always maintained that all devices incorporating the IEEE802.11a/g standards utilize Wi-LAN’s W-OFDM patents. According to D-Link’s published marketing reports, D-Link is the #1 market share leader in small to medium business connectivity on a worldwide basis for wireless local area networks (WLANs) and wide area networks (WANs). D-Link’s IEEE802.11a/g-compliant products can be found in top electronics retailers in Canada such as Best Buy, CompuSmart, Future Shop, London Drugs, Office Depot and the Source.
About Wi-LAN Inc.
Wi-LAN holds a varied portfolio of essential patents in large, existing and emerging industries: CDMA2000, WiFi and WiMAX. Wi-LAN has licensed its patents to a few companies. Wi-LAN is a charter member of the WiMAX Forum (www.wimaxforum.org).
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