Akamai sues Speedera

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Content delivery specialist Akamai Technologies, which has been battling with Cable & Wireless subsidiary Digital Island over its patents, has taken aim at fellow CDN Speedera Networks.

Akamai filed a lawsuit in Boston last week claiming Speedera's CDN services infringe on Akamai patents, says Akamai spokesman Jeff Young. In addition, Akamai accuses Speedera of unfair competition due to "false and misleading statements that Speedera has made in the marketplace regarding our network and business," Young says. He would not elaborate.

Gordon Smith, a Speedera vice president, says the Akamai claims are baseless and Speedera plans no changes in response to the filing. "They couldn't fight us in the marketplace so they decided to fight us in the courtroom instead," Smith says.

Speedera has been gaining market traction, especially with its new SpeedSuite service, which provides a package of CDN services for about half the price of what they would cost a la carte. Currently, the CDN has a promotion on its Web site attempting to attract Akamai customers to its service.

The patents cited in Akamai's lawsuit against Speedera are the same as those cited in the lawsuit it filed against Digital Island in September 2000, but Young says the infringement claims are "totally different" in each. He would not be specific about what technology is at issue.

As for the Digital Island case, a jury for the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts in December found that Digital Island had indeed infringed on one of Akamai's patents with its Footprint CDN service. Digital Island, however, says it no longer uses the technology that was found to be in violation.

Nevertheless, Akamai last month filed a request for an injunction to quash Digital Island's Footprint service.

Both sides are awaiting the judge's ruling on the December jury verdict, as well as on motions, including Akamai's injunction, in the next couple of months.