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LOS ANGELES -- When Hughes Aircraft Company sought and got a US patent for its satellite attitude control system in 1966, industry watchers had likened it to "patenting sex." Reaction to the more recent award of two US patents to TRW for its medium earth orbit (MEO) global satellite system is not unlike what Hughes encountered. But following the delayed award in August this year, TRW has conveyed in the strongest terms yet that it intends to protect its patent in court.
Despite the skepticism surrounding the Hughes patent, the company managed to exercise its rights in court, most recently in 1994 against the US government for, according to Hughes, "repeatedly infringing over a span of two decades on a pioneering patent." The satellite maker is also appealing a trial court's ruling on damages, claiming it deserves more than the US$ 114 million that it has been awarded. The patented system, popularly known as the Williams invention, made...