Cisco to Pay $1.9 Billion in U.S. Patent Lawsuit

U.S. District Judge Henry Morgan in Norfolk, Virginia concluded this week that Cisco has infringed on four cybersecurity patents that belong to Centripetal Networks, Inc.

After a month long non-jury trial, Morgan has ordered Cisco to pay $1.9 billion in the U.S. patent lawsuit The case is Centripetal Networks Inc v Cisco Systems Inc, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, No. 18-00094.

In a 167-page decision, Morgan said the case was “not a close call,” and cited inconsistencies in Cisco’s evidence and that its own technical documents, many of which Centripetal itself introduced at trial, “proved Centripetal’s case.”

The $1.9 billion payout includes a $1.89 billion award, reflecting $755.8 million in actual damages suffered by privately held Centripetal multiplied by 2.5 to reflect Cisco’s “willful and egregious” conduct, plus prejudgment interest.

“Cisco did not advance any objectively reasonable defenses at trial” as to the four patents, Morgan wrote in his decision.

“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,” the judge added.

Cisco plans to appeal the decision to the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and was disappointed “given the substantial evidence of non-infringement, invalidity and that Cisco’s innovations predate the patents by many years.”

The San Jose, California-based company posted $11.2 billion of net income on $49.3 billion of revenue in its latest fiscal year.

“With this judgment, the court rejected the primitive doctrine that might makes right,” Paul Andre, a lawyer for Centripetal, said in a statement. “This is a significant win for all small, innovative companies.”

Centripetal was founded in 2009 and focused on using threat intelligence software and firewall hardware to protect cyber networks.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.