US operator ViaSat is turning up the heat in its legal action against satellite manufacturer Space Systems Loral (SSL) with another patent infringement complaint.
The new filing claims SSL is continuing to infringe on three patents tied to technology…
US operator ViaSat is turning up the heat in its legal action against satellite manufacturer Space Systems Loral (SSL) with another patent infringement complaint.
The new filing claims SSL is continuing to infringe on three patents tied to technology that ViaSat said it had developed for ViaSat-1, its first high-throughput satellite that they had both worked on.
Based on SSL’s LS-1300 platform, ViaSat-1 was launched in 2011. But since then ViaSat has taken issue to alleged similarities seen in high throughput satellites SSL has made for rival operators, such as Jupiter-1 for Hughes Network Systems.
In the court filing yesterday it said: “ViaSat filed multiple patent applications to protect its technological breakthroughs that enable the design of a high-capacity satellite.
“These patent applications describe, amongst other things, technologies relating to increased re-use of the gateway and user beam frequency spectrum by spatially separating user beams and gateway beams, non-interfering utilisation of frequency spectrum usually allocated to non-geosynchronous orbit satellites to increase the capacity of the satellite, and the development and use of a capacity maximisation tool in the design of satellites.”
The operator initially filed legal action in February 2012 to seek monetary damages and an injunction to ban SSL from using what it sees as its technology.
But in a dramatic twist just a few months later, SSL issued a countersuit that claimed virtually all of ViaSat’s ground station products and satcoms services infringe on its own patents.
The dispute has not stopped SSL from picking up further satellite orders such as the Jupiter-2 bird for Hughes. It did, however, likely play a part in ViaSat’s decision to bring in SSL’s rival Boeing earlier this year to build its next high-throughput satellite.
The legal action also cropped up in SSL’s recent US$875m sale to Canadian space technology firm MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA).
In the purchase agreement, seller Loral Space & Communications vowed to retain control of the lawsuit against it, as well as the countersuit.
In addition to denying the claims, SSL has said it does not expect the dispute with ViaSat to be material to its business.
SSL, which is being represented by Susman Godfrey LLP, was unable to comment on the latest development before the press deadline.
ViaSat has hired Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.
