Cisco to pay $1.9bn in Centripetal patent suit
A US judge has ordered technology company Cisco Systems to pay $1.9 billion in damages for wilfully infringing four patents owned by Virginia-based Centripetal Networks.
Yesterday, October 5, Judge Henry Morgan of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia concluded that Cisco had infringed four cybersecurity patents, but not a fifth patent.
Following a 22 day bench trial, Morgan ordered Cisco to pay $1.9 billion in damages, in addition to running royalties on sales of the products at issue, which include switches and routers. However, the judge denied any further relief.
The parties had waived a jury trial following the jury trial limitations put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a 167-page decision, Morgan said the case was “not a close call”. He noted that, in the presentation of its defence, “virtually all” of Cisco’s exhibits, technical documents and demonstratives presented in its infringement and invalidity defence focused on its old technology, not on the current, accused products.
According to the judge, many of Cisco’s technical documents were introduced into evidence by Centripetal.
“This led to many inconsistencies in its evidence, on both issues. Of course, Cisco could not rely upon its own documents, as they proved Centripetal’s case,” added Morgan.
Cisco’s experts and employee witnesses also allegedly focused on old Cisco technology, with its expert witnesses often contradicting Cisco’s own documents.
The judge added: “Cisco’s lockstep strategy of denying any infringement of any of the elements of the four claims where infringement is found, and backstopping this position by contending that if the court found infringement the patents were ipso facto invalid, led to a number of factual conflicts in its presentation of its evidence.”
While Cisco was ordered to pay damages, the court did reject Centripetal’s request for injunctive relief against Cisco’s firewall products.
The judge explained that damages were more appropriate to compensate Centripetal, as an injunction on the infringing products would likely cause “massive adverse effects on the functional capabilities of Cisco’s customers and have an adverse ripple effect on national defence and the protection of the global internet”.
Cisco has told Reuters that it will appeal against the decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Paul Andre, co-chair of IP at Kramer Levin and Centripetal’s representative, said: “With this judgment, the court rejected the primitive doctrine that might makes right. This is a significant win for all small, innovative companies.”
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox
Today’s top stories
Five minutes with…John Sninsky
