Melco
 | |
| Public | |
| Traded as | TYO: 6676 |
| Industry | Computer hardware |
| Founded | 1975 (Japan) |
| Headquarters | Nagoya, Aichi, Japan |
Key people | Makoto Maki (CEO) |
| Products | Electronics |
| Revenue | JPY134.547 billion |
Number of employees | 50 MELCO group related: 824 |
| Website | http://www.melcoinc.com/ |
Melco Holdings Inc. is a family business founded by Makoto Maki in 1975 and is located in Japan. The company's most recognizable brand is Buffalo Inc.
Buffalo Inc. is currently one of the 14 subsidiaries of Melco Holdings Inc., initially founded as an audio equipment manufacturer, the company entered the computer peripheral market in 1981 with an EEPROM writer. The name BUFFALO is derived from one of company's first products, a printer buffer and the name for the American Bison (Buffalo). The owner was particularly fond of a National Geographic documentary that chronicled the annual migration including a gruesome crocodile attack.
Name
Melco's name stands for Maki Engineering Laboratory COmpany.[1]
History
Melco Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 1986; currently its subsidiaries are involved in the manufacture of random access memory products, Flash memory products, USB products, CD-ROM/DVD-RW drives, hard disks, local area network products, printer buffers, Liquid crystal displays, Microsoft Windows accelerators, Personal computer components and CPU accelerators. A subsidiary of Melco provides corporate services in Japan like Internet set-up, Terminal installation/set-up, Computer education and Computer maintenance. The company has also started selling Solid-state drives in Japan.[2]
Buffalo Technology (USA) is the North American subsidiary of the group and is based in Austin, Texas.
Corporate Structure
Board of Directors
As of June 28, 2007 |
Melco divisions
|
Products
- Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector
- Buffalo network-attached storage series
- External hard drive
- HD DVD Computer Drive
- AirStation (Residential gateway)
- AOSS
- Memory - SO-DIMM and DIMM
- USB flash drive
- UPnP Media Rendering Hardware
Kuro Box Pro
Kuro Box HG-WR
Linkstation HG
Drivestation external hard drive
A Buffalo AirStation
LinkStation Pro and KuroBox Pro
Controversy
In late 2006, the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) won a lawsuit against Buffalo Inc. under which it would receive a royalty for every WLAN product worldwide.[3] The lawsuits basis was that CSIRO was granted US patent 5487069 in 1996, which grants elements of 802.11a/g wireless technology that had become an industry standard.[4] In June 2007, the federal court in Texas granted an injunction to prevent any more wireless products from shipping until a license agreement had been reached.[5] On September 19, 2008, the Federal Circuit ruled in Buffalo’s favor and has remanded this case to the district court ruling that the district court’s Summary Judgment was insufficient on the merits of obviousness of CSIRO’s patent. Therefore, this case will be tried again before the district court. In this connection Buffalo is hopeful that it will shortly be permitted to, once again, sell IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g compliant products in the United States.
See also
References
- ↑ Melco Holdings Inc. - Business Report 2007
- ↑ http://vr-zone.com/articles/buffalo-enters-the-consumer-ssd-market/15076.html
- ↑ Darren Murph, Engadget. "CSIRO wins landmark WLAN lawsuit against Buffalo, more to come?". November 16, 2006.
- ↑ Darren Murph, Engadget. "CSIRO wins landmark WLAN lawsuit against Buffalo, more to come?". November 16, 2006.
- ↑ Tim Higgins, TG Daily. "CSIRO shuts down Buffalo WLAN shipments. June 20, 2007."
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buffalo (company). |
