Extreme Beats Off Lucent Patent Attack

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

13 May 2005

Santa Clara network switching manufacturer Extreme Networks Inc was mostly successful in defending itself against a patent lawsuit brought against it in Delaware by Lucent Technologies.

After nearly two years of litigation a jury ruled against Lucent in three out of five patent claims, but awarded Lucent damages of $274,990 on the fourth claim; a fifth claim was not resolved after procedural difficulties.

Extreme said that Lucent's victorious patent claim concerned a feature that has been absent from its products for well over a year. "We view this as a total victory, particularly in light of the fact that Lucent initially demanded payment of tens of millions of dollars," said Gordon Stitt, Extreme's president and chief executive.

John Skalko, a spokesman for Lucent, said: "We are pleased the jury found for us in one of the four patents. We vigorously guard our intellectual property which is the lifeblood of our company. While we are disappointed we did not win on the other patents, we will review the verdict and determine our next course of action in due time."

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