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12 November 2014Patents

BT defeated again in patent claim

US broadband company ASSIA Inc has defeated UK technology company British Telecom (BT) for the second time, thanks to an appeal court ruling.

The English Court of Appeal upheld a previous ruling in favour of ASSIA that BT’s broadband system, Infinity 1 and Infinity 2, infringed two European patents belonging to the California-based company.

BT’s claims were previously rejected in December last year by the English High Court.

The patents at issue, EP 1,869,790 and EP 2,259,495, describe techniques for rapidly optimising millions of broadband connections without human intervention.

These techniques are used in ASSIA’s digital subscriber line (DLS) technology, which it licences to broadband companies in the US and Europe, including AT&T, Verizon and Sky.

According to ASSIA, BT's Infinity broadband system, which provides services to more than 2.7 million customers in the UK, infringed claims in the patents.

ASSIA, which stands for Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment, was represented by Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co.

Patent litigator and partner Alexandra Brodie said: “This is an excellent result for ASSIA, whose legitimate expectation that its valuable intellectual property should be protected has been vindicated.”

ASSIA’s general counsel Noah Mesel added: “Today's ruling affirms ASSIA’s role as an innovator in the field of broadband performance optimisation.

“Two dozen major operators around the world license our products because they recognise the significant value ASSIA’s software uniquely adds to their businesses.”

BT did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

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