Sprint, Clearwire Sued Over WiMAX Patent Claims

Adaptix, a Texan WiMAX base station and mobile terminal vendor has launched legal action against Sprint Nextel and Clearwire for allegedly infringing six of its patents. The company is demanding the usual damages, fines and a bar on the company from continuing the rollout of its nationwide WiMAX network.

The infringements "will continue to damage AdaptixÃ's business, causing irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy at law, unless it is enjoined by this court," Adaptix said in the filing with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Adaptix is seeking a trial by jury on all issues.

Neither Sprint nor Clearwire have responded to the patent lawsuit yet.

The patents in dispute are:

1. U.S. Patent No. 6,904,283, titled "Multi-Carrier Communications With Group-Based Subcarrier Allocation" (the "‘283 Patent");
2. U.S. Patent No. 6,947,748, titled "OFDMA With Adaptive Subcarrier-Cluster Configuration and Selective Loading" (the "‘748 Patent");
3. U.S. Patent No. 7,072,315, titled "Medium Access Control for Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple-Access (OFDMA) Cellular Networks" (the "‘315 Patent");
4. U.S. Patent No. 7,146,172, titled "Multi-Carrier Communications With Adaptive Cluster Configuration and Switching" (the "‘172 Patent");
5. U.S. Patent No. 7,379,742, titled "Multi-Carrier Communications With Adaptive Cluster Configuration and Switching" (the "Ã'742 Patent");
6. U.S. Patent No. 7,454,212 titled "OFDMA with Adaptive Subcarrier-Cluster Configuration and Selective Loading," (the "Ã'212 Patent").

OFDMA technology is an efficient transmission method used as the basis for multiple types of networks, including mobile WiMAX networks.

Posted to the site on 21st December 2008