henry (09/14/82)
>From the 25 August 1982 issue of Electronics:
Few speakers at a technical meeting have commanded the attention
given Olaf Soderblom when he addressed the token-passing-ring
working group of the IEEE 802 committee on local-network
standards on August 4 in Boulder, Colo. Soderblom, a Swedish
engineer, holds a patent he claims is basic to token-ring
technology. If he maintains his present position on licensing,
the IEEE may abandon its token-ring standardization effort.
...a license to use the patent would cost $25000 plus a royalty
of $45 for each work station in the network.
IEEE policy is to standardize on patented processes only when
they are made available on a nonexclusive basis at what is
considered a "reasonable" price. [Examples are Ethernet at
$1000 and IEEE 488 handshaking protocols at a few hundred].
When 802 members took a straw poll on Soderblom's proposed
fees, one delegate reported "'reasonable' got zero votes".
...
Soderblom claims basic token-ring technology under US patent
4,293,948, issued 6 Oct 1981, titled "Data Transmission System".
The validity of this patent with respect to the proposed IEEE
standard is questioned, mainly because it describes a system
with a master controller... Soderblom's response to this
argument is that even in the 802 protocol, some terminal always
acts as the controller. If this argument fails to wash, he
claims the patent is valid under a patent-law principle known
as the doctrine of equivalents.
Legal and technical arguments aside, Soderblom's claims are
taken seriously because he has sold a license for this patent
and a number of others to IBM [for an amount rumored to be
$5 million or more]...
...[It is rumored, however,] that IBM originally bought
licenses to Soderblom patents not for a ring network, but
for a loop, a technology that does employ a central controller.
The loop technology has been in use since 1975...
[Attendees' arguments that the license fees are grossly excessive
at near-future equipment prices are said to have had some effect
on Soderblom.]
[A number of companies working on token-ring technology have
decided to hold off on product announcements until Soderblom's
claims are resolved.]