Cable and Wireless asks court to halt Akamai sales

Cable and Wireless PLC, a major provider of Web services to businesses, Wednesday asked a U.S. District Court to forbid Akamai from selling a product that incorporates technology on which the London data communication company claims to have a patent.

At the center of the dispute is a technology used in Akamai's EdgeSuite product that sidesteps Internet congestion by finding alternative paths for information to travel.

Cable and Wireless claims its Internet optimal routing technology is protected by its U.S. Patent 6,275,470, which covers the Host-to-Host Adaptive Routing Protocol (HHARP).

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Cable and Wireless PLC, a major provider of Web services to businesses, Wednesday asked a U.S. District Court to forbid Akamai from selling a product that incorporates technology on which the London data communication company claims to have a patent.

At the center of the dispute is a technology used in Akamai's EdgeSuite product that sidesteps Internet congestion by finding alternative paths for information to travel.

Cable and Wireless claims its Internet optimal routing technology is protected by its U.S. Patent 6,275,470, which covers the Host-to-Host Adaptive Routing Protocol (HHARP).

Cable and Wireless asked a U.S. District Court judge for a preliminary injunction to prevent Akamai, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from selling EdgeSuite until it removes the HHARP technology, the data communications company said in a statement.

The request is part of a Cable and Wireless lawsuit filed in August that charged Akamai and its affiliate Sockeye Networks Inc. with infringing on HHARP.

Akamai sees the situation differently.

"We believe that we do not infringe (on the technology patent)," said company spokesman Jeff Young. "The claims are totally without merit."

The injunction, Young said, "has nothing to do with preventing us from selling EdgeSuite."

No trial or hearing dates have been set, Young said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.