Mobile phone manufacturers Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Matsushita-owned Panasonic are being sued by the Washington Research Foundation (WRF), said to be acting on behalf of the University of Washington, that claims the infringement of a series of patents for Bluetooth wireless technology.

The WRF, a nonprofit organization that helps fund research as well as the commercialization of technologies by Washington state universities and research institutes asks the court to forbid the companies from importing or selling certain Bluetooth products in the U.S as well as for historical infringement.

Apparently, certain products contained Bluetooth chips manufactured by the world market leader for chips that wirelessly connect cell phones, headsets, laptops or other portable devices, CSR, and - according to WRF - the three companies did not have a proper licence for the use of the chips.

According to the WRF "Defendants have manufactured, used, imported into the United States, sold and offered for sale devices which, or the use of which, infringes at least the '963' patent". According to Anders Edlund, SIG CEO, more than 6,000 companies that belong to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group agree to license their relevant patents to other member companies free of charge.

The group has also investigated and made sure of the fact that companies can produce Bluetooth products without infringing on patents, which is why the lawsuit has come as a surprise to quite a few members of the SIG. "It seems to have worked so far so this [lawsuit] was kind of a surprise" Anders Edlund said. Samsung and Panasonic were not available for comment, while a spokeswoman for Nokia said that the company was studying the lawsuit.