The dispute included Fleetwood contention that one of its patents was infringed by a Qwizdom two-way infrared communication audience response system. In addition, Fleetwood contended that one of Qwizdom's advertisements was false. Qwizdom, in turn, asserted several counterclaims in the suit. However, we are pleased to report that the parties have reached an agreement resolving the current dispute.

In June 2006, both parties agreed to settle the patent infringement and false advertising lawsuit brought against Qwizdom by Fleetwood (including several counterclaims by Qwizdom against Fleetwood in the lawsuit). There were several stipulations to the settlement, some of the most important ones being:

Fleetwood believes that its proprietary methods and structures of synchronizing wireless communications for collision-free data exchange between keypads and their associated base station have proven over time to deliver the most efficient, scalable, and successful solutions for audience response communications.

These innovative communications methods are used in Fleetwood's Reply® systems and their OEM derivatives (e.g., eInstruction’s** CPSrf and CPSrf for Higher Education, Option Technologies Interactive’s*** OptionFinder® IQ and G2, etc.). Those Fleetwood-manufactured products are professional audience response systems which use advanced RF technology and communications methods to control wireless data traffic both to and from the base station in a way that permits the base station to communicate privately and interruption-free with each keypad. These methods do not sacrifice capacity or speed – two very important needs of the audience response professional. (For example, certain model base stations can poll and acknowledge responses from 1000 keypads in 5 seconds.) Additionally, Reply® systems can synchronize keypad transmissions to avoid congesting the airways with unnecessary RF data and noise. Such synchronization minimize the possibility of data collision at the base station and allows Reply® systems to cohabitate peacefully with a wide variety of other contemporary wireless devices and networks (e.g., 802.11, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.). This intelligent design has many obvious benefits, especially when combined with Fleetwood’s unique – and patent pending – spread spectrum frequency hopping methods.

With over 3 MILLION RF keypads sold, Fleetwood has been recognized as the top USA manufacturer of purpose-built wireless RF audience response systems. Through the years, we've earned industry appreciation for the ruggedness, security, and flexibility that our innovative products offer. Our two year warranty on Reply® systems demonstrates our confidence in our quality. Moreover, the scores of software applications written by numerous third parties serve as tangible testimony to the industry's confidence in our wireless hardware, our ISO-9001 certified design and manufacturing procedures, and the Fleetwood Group relationship.

As the originator of much of the interest in wireless audience response, Fleetwood feels a strong commitment to this industry, our many resellers, our numerous customers, and our employee owners. We do not take any of these commitments lightly. Be assured that Fleetwood is a good steward of its innovative technology and remains committed to the legitimate enforcement of our intellectual property rights.

If you have any questions about this or any other intellectual property related communication, please send them to Fleetwood's Patent Enforcement team.

* Qwizdom is a registered trademark and Q3 is a trademark of Qwizdom, Inc., Puyallup, WA

** CPS RF is a trademark of eInstruction Corp., Denton, TX

*** OptionFinder is a registered trademark of Option Technologies Interactive, LLC, Orlando, FL

Updated 05/08/09

[ Previous Page ]