Agere Systems has filed a lawsuit against Sony for products such as the PSP, PS2, Handycams, Memory Stick Duos, VAIO computers, Walkman players and other devices, all of which allegedly violate Agere patents.
Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Sony purposely infringed upon patents owned by Agere, connected with “wireless local area network apparatus" and "barrier layer treatments for tungsten plug[s]." In addition, Agere is asking for damages to cover the costs of any licensing fees due them plus increased penalty fees because of Sony,s "willful infringement" of the patents held by Agere.
Sony has defended itself by claiming that the patents were not violated because of former agreements made with AT&T and Lucent, who originally held the patents. Sony also says that several of the Agere patents filled by the company were void because of important data missing from the applications, thus rendering them invalid on the basis of technicalities.
