Patent Office Preliminary Report Rejects Motorola Claims Against Aruba Networks

Aruba Networks has announced that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has issued a preliminary re-examination report rejecting twelve of fourteen claims of Patent No. 6,625,454, which was asserted against Aruba Networks by Motorola in 2007. If finalized, the report could narrow the scope of the Motorola patent, invalidate all of the claims in the patent actually asserted against Aruba, and nullify any claims for damages from past infringement of the invalidated claims.

Motorola originally asserted four patents - two from its Wireless Valley division and two from its Symbol Technologies division - against Aruba in August 2007. Aruba subsequently filed counterclaims and also requested that the Patent Office re-examine all four patents based, among other things, on substantial prior art unearthed by Aruba. The Patent Office agreed to do so.

On February 11, Aruba announced that the Patent Office had issued a preliminary report rejecting all of the claims in Patent No. 6,973,622; if that preliminary ruling is made final, the USPTO's decision would invalidate that entire patent. If finalized, the subsequent report announced today would reduce the scope of the second Motorola patent to be re-examined. As in the prior case, the new Patent Office report relied heavily on Wireless Valley's own User Manual, which predated its patent application by over twelve months and which Wireless Valley failed to provide in full to the Patent Office. The two other re-examinations requested by Aruba and agreed to by the Patent Office are still pending.

"For the second time in the month of February, the USPTO has issued an action that is very favorable to Aruba," said Mike Reinemann of Cesari and McKenna, patent counsel to Aruba. "The preliminary ruling finds that the great majority of claims in Patent No. 6,625,454 are unpatentable, and the two surviving claims are not at issue in the case. We look forward to receiving initial rulings from the Patent Office in the pending re-examinations of Motorola's other two patents."

In September 2008 Aruba filed a patent infringement countersuit against Motorola, Symbol, and Wireless Valley. The countersuit alleges that Motorola (and its subsidiaries) infringe two of Aruba patents related to managing wireless computer networks and network security. The first asserted patent was assumed by Aruba as part of its acquisition of AirWave Wireless, while the second asserted patent was issued to Aruba in May 2008. Aruba is seeking a permanent injunction against use of its patented technologies, as well as monetary damages for infringing use.

Posted to the site on 20th February 2009