Cisco Wins Another Patent Ruling Against Arista
December 09 2016 - 9:15PM
Dow Jones News
By Don Clark
Cisco Systems Inc. has persuaded an International Trade
Commission judge that Arista Networks Inc. infringed two Cisco
patents, the latest development in a high-profile legal tussle
between the two Silicon Valley rivals.
Arista, which denies infringing the patents, said ITC
Administrative Law Judge Mary Joan McNamara on Friday found no
infringement of four other patents Cisco originally asserted in the
case. Arista said it would ask the full commission to review the
judge's infringement ruling concerning the two patents, which if
granted would likely result in a final determination in April.
The commission could decide to order a ban on imports of Arista
hardware, as it did in a parallel patent case earlier this
year.
Arista, as in the earlier case, said it would modify its
products in ways that would exclude technology found to infringe
the Cisco patents.
Cisco and Arista also have been squaring off in a copyright
infringement trial in federal court in San Jose, Calif., which is
expected to produce a jury verdict next week.
Cisco is the biggest maker of switching systems used to connect
servers inside data centers and to the internet. But Arista, whose
chairman and chief executive are former Cisco executives, has
grabbed a substantial chunk of the market since its founding in
2004.
Cisco first accused Arista of copyright and patent infringement
in December 2014.
The ITC infringement ruling involves patents that cover
technologies associated with controlling and improving operations
of switching or routing systems. Arista, which contends the
switching chips it purchases are responsible for any infringement,
is separately trying to convince the Patent and Trademark Office to
declare the patents invalid.
Following the ITC patent infringement ruling earlier this year,
Arista recently convinced U.S. Customs and Border Protection
officials that modified versions of its products aren't covered by
the import ban. Cisco is asking the ITC for an additional ruling to
block the Arista imports.
Write to Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 09, 2016 21:00 ET (02:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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