Ask brings infringement of IP case against Scipher subsidiary

Ask brings infringement of IP case against Scipher subsidiary
By Anthony Clark, EE Times UK
October 22, 2001 (5:26 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011019S0059

Ask Technologies.com, a manufacturer of single-board RF devices featuring a lan protocol, is taking legal action against Wavelength Digital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of intellectual property (IP) licensing company Scipher, for the alleged infringement of IP and design rights.

Summarising his company's case, lodged in the High Court in August, Vincent Bennett, Ask Technologies' chairman, says his company's technical team resigned last year to work for Wavelength which then produced a "dead ringer" device.

He claims Wavelength's Aries System is virtually identical to his company's Ask Gold product.

"The staff, two technicians and the technical director, appear to have deleted everything [relating to the device] from our server and their PCs before they left," alleged Bennett. "They reappeared with Wavelength which soon produced a similar product."

Bennett says his company accidentally discovered the method of the alleged infringement when updating the website.

"All the software and hardware designs had been placed on the website as hidden files," said Bennett. "Why was that up there?"

According to Ask Technologies' Internet service provider, these files were then accessed via a server carrying an identifier belonging to CRL, a subsidiary of Scipher.

A spokesman for Wavelength said: "Being an IP company, we take this very seriously. We are convinced the case is without merit."