Cisco Systems, Inc. announced today that it has countersued Lucent for patent infringement and responded to the lawsuit filed by Lucent Technologies in June in U.S. District Court in Delaware by denying liability for patent infringement.
Cisco asserted six patents against Lucent in the Delaware action and an additional five in a separate lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California. The patents cover ATM and LAN switching technologies. Lucent has charged the Cisco violated eight patents related to ATM, frame relay and router technology.
"We view Lucent's action as a marketing tactic to slow down industry leaders," said Kevin Kennedy, Senior Vice President, Service Provider Line of Business.
"The Internet is an industry built on open standards and a new economy mentality," he said. "This is not a case of Cisco versus Lucent, but rather Lucent versus the industry. Lucent has sued or threatened to sue the majority of data networking players, large and small. We are concerned about the damage this action could have on the industry as a whole.
"We hope Lucent will strongly reconsider its position given the effect it will have on its new peers in the data industry, chip suppliers, standard bodies and customers. This is especially true of the smaller companies who don't have the financial strength or patent portfolio to challenge Lucent."
Cisco's lawsuit seeks damages and injunctive relief.
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Lucent Technologies files patent infringement lawsuit against Cisco Systems
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More details. Network World Fusion, 6/22/98.
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