Motorola has settled a long-running patent dispute with Metrologic Instruments,
a maker of bar-code scanners.

Motorola inherited the lawsuit as part of its 2006 acquisition of wireless
handhold device maker Symbol Technologies. Symbol and Metrologic had been engaged
in the spat since early 2002, when Symbol sued Metrologic, claiming that the
company had failed to make adequate royalty payments.

Symbol was a maker of wireless barcode scanners that are used by delivery and
warehouse workers to keep track of inventory.

In 1996, Metrologic licensed Symbol's barcode scanning technology for use with
its handheld scanners, paying Symbol royalties of US$10 per scanner. However,
in 2001 Metrologic stopped making these payments, claiming that "product
changes had pushed the scanners beyond the scope of definitions laid out in
the agreement," according to Symbol.

The actual amount in dispute had been less than $500,000 Metrologic has
said.

In June 2003 Metrologic counter-sued, claiming patent infringement.

Monday's agreement settles all pending litigation, and enters Motorola and
Metrologic into a patent cross-license deal that covers barcode scanning and
mobile computing technology, they said in a statement. Terms of the settlement
were not released.

IDG News Service

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