Space Systems Loral’s owner MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) has agreed to pay US$55m of its US$100m patent suit settlement with satellite broadband operator ViaSat, while its former parent Loral Space and Communications will pay US$45m.
The…
Space Systems Loral’s owner MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) has agreed to pay US$55m of its US$100m patent suit settlement with satellite broadband operator ViaSat, while its former parent Loral Space and Communications will pay US$45m.
The structure of the split was decided at a mediation session at the court of arbitration on 1 December.
The US$100m plus interest settlement was agreed between the parties in early September and since then MDA and Loral have each paid US$23.4m toward the total.
The remaining payments will be made on a quarterly basis through January 2017.
The settlement split is interesting given that as part of Loral’s US$875m sale of SSL to Canada’s MDA in 2012 it had agreed to indemnify the company for any damages in the original patent infringement case. MDA and SSL were, however, specifically named when ViaSat brought a new lawsuit.
In April 2014, a jury found that SSL had infringed on certain ViaSat patents when it built high throughput satellites for other operators. It subsequently awarded the company US$283m in damages but this was later overturned in August by a court considering the post-trial motions, though it left the original trial’s verdict intact.
The companies then reached the US$100m settlement, the largest ever settlement in a commercial satellite communications intellectual property matter, in September.
The deal allows SSL to continue using the 10 patents-in-suit, as well as certain other patents and patent applications, without the threat of litigation from ViaSat or its breach of contract claims.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan represented ViaSat in the lawsuit, while SSL hired Susman Godfrey.
