Exhibit 99.17
 PRESS RELEASE


WiLAN Receives Positive Court Ruling





OTTAWA, Canada – December 31, 2010 – Wi-LAN Inc. (“WiLAN” or the “Company”) (TSX:WIN), a leading technology innovation and licensing company, today announced that U.S. District Court Judge T. John Ward has issued an important ruling concerning the Court’s claim construction of U.S. Patent No. 5,282,222 and its applicability to Wi-Fi products.





In settlement discussions with the defendants, it became apparent to WiLAN, that WiLAN and the defendants were applying the Court’s claim construction differently.  In light of this, WiLAN requested the Court to revisit its claim construction and to clarify its construction of the term "amplitude and phase differential characteristics.”  In the order, the Court granted WiLAN’s motion and will change the construction of this term to "characteristics of both the amplitude and the difference in phase caused by the wireless channel."





The ruling resolves a key issue in WiLAN's favour that was the subject of current summary judgment motions by the defendants.   Since this is a significant change to the Court’s claim construction, which may require the defendants to revise their expert reports and defense in the action, the Court granted a slight delay in the trial in this matter to February 2, 2011 with jury selection to begin on January 21, 2011.  The case was scheduled for trial on January 4, 2011.





“We are very pleased with the court’s ruling,” said Bill Middleton, Senior Vice-President & General Counsel.  “This modest delay may assist in settlement discussions currently underway with a number of defendants.The court ruling will also further reinforce our infringement position at trial.”





About WiLAN


WiLAN, founded in 1992, is a leading technology innovation and licensing company.  WiLAN has licensed its intellectual property to over 240 companies worldwide.  Inventions in our portfolio have been licensed by companies that manufacture or sell a wide range of communication and consumer electronics products including 3G cellular handsets, Wi-Fi-enabled laptops, Wi-Fi/DSL routers, xDSL infrastructure equipment, WiMAX base stations and digital television receivers.  WiLAN has a large and growing portfolio of more than 970 issued or pending patents.  For more information: www.wilan.com.




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PRESS RELEASE




Forward-looking Information


Certain statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, may include forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties that face the Company; such statements may contain such words as “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions, and may be based on management’s current assumptions and expectations related to all aspects of the wireless and wireline telecommunications industries and the global economy.  Risks and uncertainties that may face the Company include, but are not restricted to: licensing of the Company’s patents can take an extremely long time and may be subject to variable cycles; the Company is currently reliant on licensees paying royalties under existing licensing agreements and additional licensing of its patent portfolio to generate future revenues and increased cash flows; the Company’s revenues may fluctuate based on individual licensees’ growth and success rates in their respective markets, the impact of seasonality and other market factors on individual licensees’ businesses and other factors outside of the Company’s control; the Company’s revenues can vary significantly from quarter to quarter depending upon the type of royalty agreement with licensees, the timing of royalty reporting by licensees and fluctuations in foreign currency; the Company may be required to establish the enforceability of its patents in court in order to obtain material licensing revenues; changes in patent laws or in the interpretation or application of patent laws could materially adversely affect the Company; a court may determine that certain of the Company’s patents are not infringed by certain standards or products or may disagree with management with respect to whether one or more of the Company’s patents apply to certain standards or products, which could adversely affect the Company; certain of the Company’s patents are, and others may be, subject to administrative proceedings that could invalidate or limit the scope of those patents; the Company will need to acquire or develop new patents to continue and grow its business; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates impact and may continue to impact the Company’s revenues and operating expenses, potentially adversely affecting financial results; the Company has made and may make acquisitions of technologies or businesses which could materially adversely affect the Company; the Company may require investment to translate its intellectual property position into sustainable profit in the market; the generation of future V-Chip revenues and the likelihood of the Company signing additional V-Chip licenses could be negatively impacted by changes in government regulation; the Company is dependent on its key officers and employees; the price of the Company’s common shares is volatile and subject to market fluctuation; and the Company may be negatively affected by reduced consumer spending due to the uncertainty of economic and geopolitical conditions.  These risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ from information contained in this release, when estimates and assumptions have been used to measure, predict and/or report results.  There can be no assurance that any statements of forward-looking information contained in this release will prove to be accurate.  Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.  These and all subsequent written and oral statements containing forward-looking information are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice.  Except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management's estimates or opinions change.  Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any statements of forward-looking information that speak only as of the date of this release.  Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties relating to the Company’s business are contained under the heading “Risk Factors” in WiLAN’s current Annual Information Form and its other filings with the various Canadian securities regulators which are available online at www.sedar.com.





This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in the United States.





All trademarks and brands mentioned in this release are the property of their respective owners.





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For more information, please contact:





Tyler Burns


Director, Investor Relations & Communications


O: 613.688.4330


C: 613.697.0367


E: tburns@wilan.com





For more information,
Tyler Burns
11 Holland Avenue, Suite 608, Ottawa, ON K1Y 4S1visit www.wilan.com
Director, Investor Relations
Tel: O: 613.688.4330 C: 613.697.0367or please contact
& Communications
Email:  tburns@wilan.com




www.wilan.com
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