Akamai Technologies, which had sued content delivery network competitor Limelight Networks for alleged infringement at least two patents, lost its case on two of the patents, but won the battle over the other patent. Limelight may have to pay Akamai $45.5 million, and also may face an injunction against using the patent, but the company said it will appeal the case.
Meanwhile, as carriers and other companies have begun to crowd into the CDN market, there has been some speculation that AT&T, Microsoft or Level 3 Communications (already a major CDN player) could be interested in acquiring Limelight.
For more:
- check out this coverage [1] at The Boston Globe
- here's the acquisition speculation [2] at Seeking Alpha
Related articles:
- AT&T [3] late last year began talking about CDN deployments
- Make or break for Limelight Article [4]
Links:
[1] http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2008/03/01/akamai_wins_ruling_on_patent_infringement/
[2] http://seekingalpha.com/article/66801-limelight-appeals-ruling-will-it-be-acquired-shortly
[3] http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/att-plans-cdn-gear-deployments/2007-12-13
[4] http://www.fierceiptv.com/story/limelight-wins-early-patent-battle/2008-02-12