CSR said it has reached agreement with technology licensing organisation the Washington Research Foundation (WRF) to settle the patent infringement suit regarding the use of Bluetooth chips issued against twelve of CSR's customers.

The firm has agreed to pay $15m and WRF has given an undertaking not to sue CSR, its suppliers, customers or end users for alleged infringement  by CSR products of the patents asserted in the suit.

In January, the Bluetooth chipset market was thrown into a spin with the filing of the patent-infringement suit by the WRF against mobile phone firms Nokia, Samsung and Panasonic, which is owned by Matsushita. All three companies named being customers of CSR.

According to court papers, the suit refered to research carried out at the University of Washington where researcher Edwin Suominen received four patents for RF receiver technology involving Bluetooth. The patents were transferred to the non-profit Washington Research Foundation which subsequently licensed the technology to chip supplier Broadcom.

Today, CSR said:  “It remains of the view that WRF's patent infringement suit against its Bluetooth chips is without merit.  Notwithstanding this, CSR believes that an early resolution of this infringement claim is in both its own and its customers' best interests.”