US Patent Office Preliminary Ruling Rejects Motorola Claim Against Aruba Networks

Aruba Networks has issued a statement announcing that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued a preliminary re-examination report rejecting all claims of Patent No. 7,173,923, one of four patents asserted against Aruba Networks by Motorola in 2007. The patent was originally issued to Symbol Technologies prior to its acquisition by Motorola.

In rejecting all sixteen of the patent's claims, and provided that the preliminary finding is made final, the PTO's decision would invalidate the entire patent. This is the fourth preliminary finding against Motorola.

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

Requests for re-examination, like the ones filed by Aruba, are often successful in having the subject patent either changed or completely revoked. Motorola itself admitted in a court filing in 2008 that approximately 76% of patents subject to re-examination are either changed or cancelled. "This is the fourth favorable preliminary report in a row from the PTO. We look forward to further proceedings at the PTO, as we advance toward final resolution of these matters," said Michael Attaya of Cesari and McKenna LLP, Aruba's patent counsel.

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's 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.

Posted to the site on 17th March 2009