U.S. Federal Court Confirms Jury Verdict Against Metaswitch for Infringing Seven GENBAND Patents
PLANO, Texas, Oct. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- GENBAND™, a leading provider of real time communications solutions, today announced that on September 29, 2016, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas entered orders and a detailed opinion finding that Metaswitch Networks Corp. and Metaswitch Networks Ltd. have infringed seven GENBAND patents. The Court's rulings follow a jury verdict earlier this year finding widespread infringement by Metaswitch across the multiple GENBAND patents covering a range of Voice-Over-IP technology. In confirming that Metaswitch infringes GENBAND's patents, the Court squarely rejected all of Metaswitch's defenses, including all of those brought at the initial trial, in post-trial briefing, and in a subsequent bench trial through which Metaswitch attempted to escape liability for its infringement. Metaswitch's infringing products include:
- Metaswitch's Session Border Controllers;
- Metaswitch's Integrated Softswitches;
- Metaswitch's Call Feature Servers;
- Metaswitch's Universal Media Gateways; and
- Metaswitch's MTAS platform with both Accession (supporting Call Jump) and Commportal software (supporting Click to Dial)
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Reacting to the Court's decision, Mr. David Walsh, GENBAND's CEO, said "GENBAND appreciates the thoughtful work of the jury in returning a verdict of infringement on all patents, and now for the judge in rejecting all of the defenses raised by Metaswitch. GENBAND is proud of its many innovations in Voice-Over-IP technology, and remains committed to stop others from using GENBAND's innovations unfairly to compete with GENBAND in the marketplace."
As part of GENBAND's relief, Metaswitch must pay $8.1 million for infringement from the commencement of the lawsuit (January 2014) through the last date Metaswitch had disclosed its revenues before the trial (August 2015). On the strength of the judge's decision rejecting all of Metaswitch's defenses, GENBAND is entitled to additional damages for every infringing sale since August 2015. In addition, for ongoing sales, GENBAND will seek enhanced damages (up to three times the actual damages) because Metaswitch is willfully infringing GENBAND's patents. Although the Court denied an injunction, GENBAND will immediately appeal this decision and will seek an injunction on appeal to prevent the significant harm caused by Metaswitch's continued infringement.
This case is one of three technology lawsuits between the parties active over the past year.
- In the first case (referenced above), Metaswitch was found to infringe seven GENBAND patents.
- In the second case, Metaswitch asserted that GENBAND infringed six Metaswitch patents. The jury in that case found that GENBAND did not infringe any Metaswitch patent, and invalidated three of Metaswitch's patents.
- The third case involves GENBAND's claim that Metaswitch misappropriated GENBAND's trade secrets as part of a widespread, management-led campaign to obtain and exploit GENBAND's valuable trade secret information. The third case is set for trial in January 2017.
Additional information about these cases can be obtained from publicly available court records. The cases were filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and are styled: (i) GENBAND US LLC v. Metaswitch Networks Ltd and Metaswitch Networks Corp., Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-33; (ii) Metaswitch Networks Ltd v. GENBAND US LLC, et al., Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-744; and (iii) GENBAND US LLC v. Metaswitch Networks Ltd. et al., Civil Action No. 2:16-cv-582. GENBAND is represented in this case by Baker Botts L.L.P. and the Dacus Firm, P.C.
About GENBAND
GENBAND is a global leader in real-time communications software solutions for service providers, enterprises, independent software vendors, systems integrators and developers in over 80 countries. Kandy, its award-winning, disruptive real-time communications software development platform, is built from the company's global telecommunications network and security technologies. The platform enables these companies to easily embed a full suite of voice, video, chat, screen-sharing and collaboration capabilities into their existing business, web and mobile applications. The company's Network Modernization, Unified Communications, Mobility and Embedded Communications solutions enable its customers to quickly capitalize on growing market segments and introduce differentiating products, applications and services. GENBAND's market-leading solutions, which are deployable in the network, on premise or through the cloud, help its customers connect people to each other and address the growing demands of today's consumers and businesses for real-time communications wherever they happen to be. To learn more visit genband.com.
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