DirecTV could have saved itself as much as US$160m after fibre optic subsystem specialist Finisar Corporation lost its appeal for damages linked to its June 2006 patent infringement case.
That case centred on DirecTV being found guilty of infringing on…
DirecTV could have saved itself as much as US$160m after fibre optic subsystem specialist Finisar Corporation lost its appeal for damages linked to its June 2006 patent infringement case.
That case centred on DirecTV being found guilty of infringing on Finisar’s information transmission patent, which provided unique ways to transmit and broadcast digital information to a wide base of subscribers.
Finisar was originally awarded US$78.9m in damages for past infringement plus interest, US$25m for wilful infringement, and US$1.62 in royalties for each new set-top box going forward.
However, DirecTV appealed these rulings and on April 18, 2008 the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) vacated the verdict of infringement having found the primary claim to be invalid. Having reversed the finding of wilfulness and revised certain of the claim interpretations, the CAFC remanded the case back to the district court of Texas for further proceedings and possible retrial on the remaining claims.
DirecTV then filed a motion for summary judgment in the remand action, asserting that all remaining claims were also invalid and on May 19, 2009, the district judge found in favour if DirecTV’s motion and the case was dismissed.
Finisar subsequently appealed the judgment and dismissal in a second appeal to the CAFC. On January 8, the court affirmed the district court’s verdict meaning that the case is finally over and all asserted claims of the Finisar patent have been found to be invalid. Finisar has one last option, which is to petition the Supreme Court to hear a further appeal. They have 90 days from the CAFC’s latest verdict to do so.
In a statement on the ruling, DirecTV said: “We are extremely gratified by the Court of Appeals ruling today that confirmed our long-held belief that Finisar’s allegations were unfounded.”
Workman Nydegger represented Finisar in the case, while Jones Day was legal counsel to DirecTV.
Meanwhile, a Florida federal court judge James Moody Jr. has awarded DISH Network, its sister company EchoStar and conditional access subsidiary NagraStar, a total of US$51m in its anti-piracy case against Robert Ward.
Ward was found guilty of posting software on the internet that allowed individuals to illegally receive DISH Network programming using free-to-air receivers by bypassing NagraStar’s access security technology. In total, Ward, who used the aliases ‘Thedssguy’ and ‘Veracity’, provided 255,741 pirated software files. Under the judgement, he is liable for approximately US$200 per download, equating to total damages of almost US$51.15m.
Commenting on the decision, DISH stated: “In the summary judgment decision, the court made two significant holdings that will strengthen the companies’ ability to pursue pirates in the future. The court held that the posting of pirate software constitutes a violation of the Federal Communications Act, and that statutory damages should be calculated based on how many individuals downloaded the pirated software.”
