Wi-LAN Inc. announced the settlement of a patent dispute with another U.S. technology company Thursday, the third in a wave of settlements that started with computer processing giant Intel Corp..
In the latest settlement, the Ottawa-based patent-licensing company said it had signed a deal with Broadcom Corp .
The memorandum of understanding calls for Broadcom to take a multi-year licence for Wi-LAN's patent portfolio and to make a series of payments to Wi-LAN.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but the agreement calls for all lawsuits between the companies in the U.S. to be dropped.
Wi-LAN, whose shares were halted for the announcement, says it expects a final agreement to be signed in the next few weeks.
Trading in the stock later resumed and at midday Wi-LAN shares were down 31 cents, or almost five per cent, at $6.26 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The deal comes just days after the Canadian company reached similar patent settlements with industry leaders Intel Corp. and Atheros Communications Inc..
The company is also involved in ongoing discussions with a number of other companies over alleged patent infringements involving laptops and routers.
Such challenges are common in the technology industry and often hundreds of millions of dollars can be at stake.
The relatively small Canadian patent house launched a court challenge last April against several of the world's high-tech heavyweights, alleging they have infringed on one of its U.S. patents with their Bluetooth products.
Apple Inc., Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., Motorola Inc., Sony Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc. are among the defendants.
Wi-Lan alleges the companies are violating a U.S. patent by selling products such as cellphones and laptops that contain Bluetooth technology, which is used widely for short-range wireless communications.
It is scheduled to go to trial Feb 2.
Wi-LAN said it is hopeful that it can reach settlements in the outstanding cases. The company has said it is prepared to defend its patents in court but would also consider any settlement offers it considers "fair and reasonable."
In a separate case, Wi-LAN launched lawsuits in November against Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Inc. and Charter Communications, claiming those companies are infringing on Wi-LAN's patents by offering for sale, operating, advertising and marketing cable systems and cable modem products.
Wi-LAN is a relatively small company that specializes in managing a portfolio of patents and collecting licence fees from equipment makers that use the technology in their products.
Wi-LAN was founded in 1992 and has licensed its intellectual property to more than 240 companies around the world. The company has a portfolio of around 970 issued or pending patents.