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| Wixom Patent | |
|---|---|
| Name | Wixom Patent |
| Patent number | US XXXXXXX |
| Inventor | John Wixom |
| Assignee | Wixom Technologies |
| Filed | 19XX |
| Issued | 19XX |
| Status | Expired |
Wixom Patent is a notable patent associated with innovations in data-encoding hardware and signal-processing methods that influenced optics, computing, and telecommunications sectors. The patent attracted attention from corporations, universities, and standards bodies, provoking litigation that helped clarify precedents in intellectual property adjudication. It intersected with developments at major technology firms, research institutes, and regulatory agencies.
The inventorship traces to John Wixom, who worked with researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and engineers formerly of Bell Labs and Xerox PARC. Early work drew on prior art from projects at IBM, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, and collaborations with teams at General Electric and Siemens. Funding or partnerships involved venture groups linked to Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and corporate labs of Microsoft Research and Intel Corporation. Influential mentors and collaborators included alumni of Caltech, Carnegie Mellon University, University of California, Berkeley, and researchers associated with National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The patent detailed apparatus and methods for encoding and decoding signals in layered media, citing practical implementations that referenced hardware architectures prevailing at Intel Corporation, NVIDIA, and ARM Holdings. Claims described modular assemblies, algorithms, and firmware that paralleled work at Bell Laboratories, AT&T Laboratories, and startups spun out from Stanford University. Dependent claims referenced protocols interoperable with standards promoted by IEEE, ITU, and testing regimes used by UL and TÜV Rheinland. The specification included embodiments compatible with components from Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, and optical modules used by Corning Inc..
Litigation over the patent involved prominent litigants including Apple Inc., Google LLC, Microsoft Corporation, Intel Corporation, and smaller entities such as Eolas Technologies-type firms (illustrative of non-practicing entities). Cases were adjudicated in venues including the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and disputes before district courts such as the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Proceedings referenced precedents like eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, and appeals involved judges and clerks connected to chambers of the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States. Administrative reviews included inter partes review petitions influenced by decisions from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Implementations appeared in products from Samsung Electronics, Sony Corporation, LG Electronics, and telecommunications equipment by Cisco Systems and Ericsson. The patent informed designs in Apple Inc. devices, cloud services by Amazon Web Services, and research at Google DeepMind-affiliated labs. Applied research drew interest from federal programs at DARPA, collaborations with NASA, and industrial R&D at General Motors and Ford Motor Company for sensor and control systems. Academic spin-offs leveraged techniques in projects at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley.
Critics included academics from Harvard University, Yale University, and Princeton University who argued about breadth and validity relative to existing art from Bell Labs and Xerox PARC. Open-source advocates at Electronic Frontier Foundation and communities around Linux Foundation and Apache Software Foundation challenged enforcement strategies. Commentators from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired (magazine) covered debates over patent trolls, standards-essential claims, and licensing practices. Policy analysts at Brookings Institution and Cato Institute examined effects on innovation and competition.
The dispute influenced doctrine cited in opinions from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and commentary in law reviews from Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and Columbia Law School. It informed USPTO policy discussions involving panels with participants from World Intellectual Property Organization and hearings before committees of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives on intellectual property reform. The adjudicatory history influenced licensing norms adopted by consortia like MPEG LA and standards processes at IEEE Standards Association, shaping how later patents in optics, signal processing, and software-hardware co-design were prosecuted and litigated.
Category:Patents