Eye-Fi says SD Association violates its patents

Eye-Fi has claimed that the SD Association's iSDIO wireless SD card standard illegally breaches the intellectual property of Eye-Fi, the company that already makes Wi-Fi SD cards such as the Pro X2. The draft specification of the SDA that was touted as a new standard was a misrepresentation, Eye-Fi argued. It further insisted the SDA didn't follow its own rules and standards in adopting the new standard.

Eye-Fi is one of the SDA's members. As such, it's allowed to respond with claims to patented intellectual property and plans that the SDA suggests. Technology that's patented and not offered for license results in resetting the review cycle at the SDA. Once this process is completed, SDA executive members need to vote on the adoption of the specification. Eye-Fi said the required 60-day windows for the disclosure wasn't met, nor did the executive members vote on the standard's adoption.

The SDA's response to Eye-Fi was simply that the technical details of the technology won't change, simply the licensing of it. Finally, Eye-Fi stated in a press release that any company that adopts the SDA standard would violate Eye-Fi's patented technology.

Eye-Fi SD cards have an embedded Wi-Fi radio and can be programmed to upload photos captured by the camera onto social networking sites and otherwise share them without having to use a card reader or USB. [via DPReview]

By Electronista Staff