The patent tug-of-war between Metaswitch and Genband continued this week as a U.S. District Court found that Metaswitch infringed on seven of Genband’s patents, a ruling that comes in the wake of a jury verdict earlier this year.
The patents cover a range of technologies used in voice over IP services, including session border controllers, integrated softswitches, call feature servers, universal media gateways, and software that supports Call Jump and Click to Dial features on Metaswitch’s MTAS platform.
The ruling could mean that Metaswitch must pay at least $8.1 million to Genband for infringement that occurred between January 2014, when the lawsuit commenced, and August 2015, the last date that Metaswitch disclosed its revenues before the trial began.
The court declined to issue an injunction in the case, meaning Metaswitch can continue offering these technology products and services. “We are pleased with the court’s ruling,” said Martin Lund, Metaswitch CEO, in a release about the injunction decision, “and look forward to continuing our successful partnerships and customer engagements utilizing our broad technology portfolio and long history of technical innovation.”
Genband said in a release that it will file an appeal seeking an injunction as well as higher damages, including damages from August 2015 forward.
This latest decision is one of three ongoing technology lawsuits between the two companies. Metaswitch had also filed a lawsuit claiming that Genband was infringing six of its patents – in March, a jury found that Genband wasn’t infringing any patents, and invalidated three Metaswitch patents; and Genband has also filed a lawsuit claiming that Metaswitch “misappropriated” trade secrets from the vendor. That case is scheduled to go to trial in January 2017.
For more:
- see this Genband release
- and this Metaswitch release
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