Clearwire, Sprint Nextel face lawsuit over mobile WiMAX : Adaptix takes issue with the wireless technology

A Dallas-based company has filed a lawsuit against Clearwire Corp. and Sprint Nextel Corp., alleging patent infringement in regard to technology being used for Clearwire’s WiMAX offering. Adaptix Inc. has filed the lawsuit in Eastern District Court of Texas alleging the defendants are illegally using six of its patents.
Clearwire and Sprint officials could not be reached for comment regarding the lawsuit, which was filed Dec. 1.
Earlier this month, Clearwire and Sprint Nextel closed on their joint venture to offer WiMAX services under the Clearwire name. The joint venture replaces Sprint Nextel’s Xohm-branded WiMAX effort – launched earlier this year in Baltimore – with Clearwire’s “Clear” brand and the marketing tagline “Let’s Be Clear.”
Investors in the company include Comcast Corp, Intel Corp. Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks. The companies have invested more than $3 billion. Trilogy Equity Partners is expected to invest $10 million into the company in the coming months.
According to the lawsuit, Adaptix alleges its patents are being used illegally regarding multi-carrier communications with group-based subcarrier-cluster allocation, adaptive subcarrier-cluster configuration and selected loading, medium access control for orthogonal frequency division multiple access, multi-carrier communications with adaptive cluster configuration and switching and adaptive subcarrier cluster configuration and selective loading.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants are committing patent infringement with the use of its products in the United States, Texas and the Eastern District of Texas. Adaptix is seeking damages and legal and attorney fees. In the meantime, Adaptix is seeking a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from further infringement of its patents.