Once again, another tech group that is unknown to most people is preparing to halt the use of good technoology by way of legal action. This time the culprit is the Washington Research Foundation and the technology being put at risk is Bluetooth.

The Washington Research Foundation as these things usually go, is seeking damages from Nokia, Samsung and Panasonic for using radio frequency technology without paying royalties. The group is citing a patent awared in 1999 to Edwin Suominen as the basis for the lawsuit.

Traditional history holds that Bluetooth was invented by Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattison, both Ericsson engineers, then further developed with other companies (Toshiba, Nokia, IBM and Intel) and released to be a free standard by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. By way of the lawsuit, that history may be about to change.

Nokia has stated that they are “currently studying the claims”. Samsung and Panasonic have not yet issued statements regarding the Washington Research Foundation lawsuit. Even while restricting itself to devices sold in the US the lawsuit coud impact 15 o 20 percent of global Bluetooth sales.

All three companies use Bluetooth chips provided by British chip manufacturer CSR. The Washington Research Foundation has license agreements with US-based Broadcom and has stated Nokia, Panasonic and Samsung could have avoided legal action had they acquired chips from Broadcom.