Coriant has resolved a patent dispute related to a Tellabs lawsuit with intellectual property owner Cheetah Omni that was pending in the Eastern District of Texas.
The dispute, which was filed against Coriant's predecessor company Tellabs, involved U.S. Patents 6,940,647 and 6,856,459.
Cheetah sued Tellabs and five other vendors in July 2011 alleging that each defendant infringed certain patents.
Following two years of litigation, Coriant/Tellabs prevailed on its motion for summary judgment of non-infringement as to the '647 and '459 Patents, which Cheetah asserted against certain reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer (ROADM) technologies within the 7100 series product line in February. When the summary judgment was entered, the court awarded Coriant/Tellabs $160,000 in costs.
However, Cheetah appealed the court's decisions. Under a new settlement agreement that resolves the litigation, including the pending appeal, Coriant will be able to license Cheetah's entire optical communication patent portfolio. Cheetah will also pay Coriant an unspecified amount. Other terms of the settlement were not revealed and were deemed confidential.
Marlin Equity Partners acquired Tellabs in December 2013. Later in January 2014, the Tellabs packet optical portfolio was merged under the Coriant brand, while the Tellabs access product portfolio was established as an independent business.
Patent disputes between vendors and service providers have risen in recent years. AT&T (NYSE: T) recently sued Cox Communications, claiming the cable operator infringed upon a number of its patents related to everything from digital video recorders to IP voice service to broadband.
For more:
- see the release
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