A beauty shot of ViaSat-1 at SS/L, where is was built. Technologies used in this satellite are now the subject of a brewing dispute. Image credit: SS/L

Space Sysems/Loral (SS/L) has a long, successful history of building commercial satellites. Nearly 50 years ago, they built Courier 1B, the first active communications satellite. Fast forward to the present and we find that SS/L is producing communications satellites for a variety of companies, including a single satellite, the ViaSat-1, which can provide 12Mbps internet connectivity for nearly 1 million people in the US. ViaSat, Inc awarded SS/L the contract to construct ViaSat-1, ViaSat’s first satellite, but ground-based trouble has arisen in the form of a patent dispute. On February 1^st of this year, ViaSat filed suit alleging that SS/L copied proprietary and confidential technologies ViaSat disclosed during the development of ViaSat-1. Allegedly, SS/L integrated these technologies into a competitor satellite SS/L was building, the Hughes Jupiter satellite. ViaSat also alleges that SS/L is infringing at least four of ViaSat’s patents, including a patent on the placement of Earth-based transmission stations in relation to end users, which issued the day before ViaSat filed suit. SS/L, owner of approximately 160 patents on satellite and related technologies, has counter sued, alleging that ViaSat has infringed SS/L patents and arguing that ViaSat’s patents are invalid because Lockheed Martin actually invented the technology and ViaSat may have neglected to mention that fact to the Patent Office while it was trying to secure its patents! Read the rest of this entry »