Silicon Valley based Technology Company Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) has been ordered by a U.S court to pay $1.9 billion after losing a patent lawsuit to Virginia based Centripetal Networks Inc. for copying cybersecurity patents of the company.
After over a one month period which the case lasted, U.S. District Judge Henry Morgan in Norfolk, Virginia, found Cisco guilty of infringing four patents belonging to the complainant. Nonetheless the judge found no infringement of a fifth patent.
“The infringing functionality was added to their accused products post June 20, 2017, and resulted in a dramatic increase in sales which Cisco touted in both technical and marketing documents,” said the judge.
In relation to the four patents, the judge said Cisco did not advance any objectively reasonable defenses at trial.
The $1.9 billion amount was arrived at by taking the $755.8 million which Centripetal suffered as damages then multiplying it by 2.5 to reflect willful and egregious conduct by Cisco. Prejudgment interest was also captured in the calculations.
Following the ruling, Cisco was quick to express its dissatisfaction with it claiming evidence of non-infringement and that its innovations predate the patents by many years.
Cisco further said it would appeal the ruling in U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.
