Teh One Who Knocks
08-13-2011, 01:09 PM
By Mark Hachman - PC Magazine
ActiveVideo Networks said Friday it will ask a federal court for an injunction to shut down Verizon's FiOS network, after receiving a $115 million settlement from Verizon last week.
ActiveVideo, an applications platform provider that enables smart TV apps, filed suit in May 2010 alleging that Verizon Commnications infringed four patents that ActiveVideo said were fundamental to video-on-demand TV services. A jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia agreed, and awarded ActiveVideo $115 million.
The next step for ActiveVideo, the company said, was to seek an injunction shutting down Verizon's FiOS network itself. "The decision of the court to uphold our intellectual property rights was very clear," said Jeff Miller, president and chief executive of ActiveVideo Networks, in a statement. "We insist that Verizon immediately cease its unlawful use of the patented technology developed by the employees and investors of ActiveVideo Networks."
Verizon has an enormous incentive to try and fight the injunction, as FiOS now accounts for 57 percent of Verizon's consumer revenue, which totaled $3.4 billion, the company said in a July earnings call. Verizon said that it had 4.5 million FiOS broadband customers and 3.8 million FiOS TV customers, which could overlap.
However, Verizon representatives told Light Reading that they had not received a copy of the suit.
A spokesman for ActiveVideo declined to comment beyond Miller's statement.
ActiveVideo's Miller also said that the ruling will benefit a customer, Cablevision in their defense against Verizon's injunction claims within the U.S. International Trade Commission. The ITC recently ruled that Cablevision violated a Verizon patent that could block Cablevision from importing set-to boxes made by Cisco Systems.
Verizon is already weathering the effects of a strike. About 45,000 employees, members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) could not find common ground in negotiations, and the union leaders called a strike, which began Sunday. Verizon has claimed sabotage has occurred during the strike, without directly blaming its workers; for its part, the union ha s claimed that Verizon workers have struck striking workers with their cars.
A second, much smaller strike may affect Verizon Wireless.
ActiveVideo Networks said Friday it will ask a federal court for an injunction to shut down Verizon's FiOS network, after receiving a $115 million settlement from Verizon last week.
ActiveVideo, an applications platform provider that enables smart TV apps, filed suit in May 2010 alleging that Verizon Commnications infringed four patents that ActiveVideo said were fundamental to video-on-demand TV services. A jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia agreed, and awarded ActiveVideo $115 million.
The next step for ActiveVideo, the company said, was to seek an injunction shutting down Verizon's FiOS network itself. "The decision of the court to uphold our intellectual property rights was very clear," said Jeff Miller, president and chief executive of ActiveVideo Networks, in a statement. "We insist that Verizon immediately cease its unlawful use of the patented technology developed by the employees and investors of ActiveVideo Networks."
Verizon has an enormous incentive to try and fight the injunction, as FiOS now accounts for 57 percent of Verizon's consumer revenue, which totaled $3.4 billion, the company said in a July earnings call. Verizon said that it had 4.5 million FiOS broadband customers and 3.8 million FiOS TV customers, which could overlap.
However, Verizon representatives told Light Reading that they had not received a copy of the suit.
A spokesman for ActiveVideo declined to comment beyond Miller's statement.
ActiveVideo's Miller also said that the ruling will benefit a customer, Cablevision in their defense against Verizon's injunction claims within the U.S. International Trade Commission. The ITC recently ruled that Cablevision violated a Verizon patent that could block Cablevision from importing set-to boxes made by Cisco Systems.
Verizon is already weathering the effects of a strike. About 45,000 employees, members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) could not find common ground in negotiations, and the union leaders called a strike, which began Sunday. Verizon has claimed sabotage has occurred during the strike, without directly blaming its workers; for its part, the union ha s claimed that Verizon workers have struck striking workers with their cars.
A second, much smaller strike may affect Verizon Wireless.