SeaChange Ad
Cable Digital News Analysis   More Cable Digital News Analysis

Court Sides Against Cable Modem Patent Troll

Rembrandt IP Management LLC 's bid to squeeze royalties and license fees out of several major U.S. cable operators and cable modem vendors has failed, after a Delaware judge rejected Rembrandt's claims that the cable group was infringing on several data-over-cable technology patents.

About five years ago, Rembrandt targeted several cable operators -- including Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC), Cox Communications Inc. , and Charter Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: CHTR) -- alleging that their use of Docsis, a CableLabs specification that forms the technical baseline for cable's high-speed Internet and VoIP services, infringed on eight patents Rembrandt obtained via its acquisition of what was then Paradyne Networks Inc. (See Zhone to Buy Paradyne for $184M.)

Those MSOs and a group of cable modem vendors, including Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) and Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), later formed an MDL (multidistrict litigation) party, characterizing Rembrandt as a patent troll that was bent on extracting millions in royalties. Rembrandt later sold modems through a company called Remstream. Although a Remstream-made cable modem and an embedded multimedia terminal adapter (voice modem) did obtain certification from CableLabs, the MDL alleged that Remstream was nothing more than a shell, established to help Rembrandt fulfill its desire to extract license fees from operators and vendors that had created lucrative high-speed Internet businesses.

Bloomberg reported Wednesday that a jury trial was set to begin January 11, 2010, in federal court in Wilmington, Del., but the judge assigned to it dismissed the claims on all eight Rembrandt patents on October 23 after Rembrandt signed a deal not to sue.

Rembrandt's chances of success began to look bleak in August, when the MDL urged the judge to invalidate two of the Rembrandt patents tied to the case: 6,950,444 and 6,131,159. (See MSOs Try to Brush Off Rembrandt Patents.)

The judge has since thrown out Rembrandt's claims on all eight patents, with Rembrandt agreeing not to sue the vendors or their customers for products that comply with existing industry standards.

Rembrandt has not offered a comment on the court's decision.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News
Newest Comments First       Display in Chronological Order
london_electricians
User Ranking
Saturday November 7, 2009 3:32:18 AM
no ratings
if the technology belongs to Cisco it makes sense
Jeff Baumgartner
User Ranking
Friday November 6, 2009 11:36:35 AM
no ratings

Although the MDL group appears to be out of the woods on this one, Rembrandt may not be. Cisco said it "will be pursuing Rembrandt to recover our fees and costs."

 

LIGHT READING MARKET PLACE
Virtual Network Tool Guide
Choose the Right Tools with Our Online Guide and Resolve Network Issues Faster.
The Time is Now for FCoE
Join Cisco and its partners for a live informative webcast on 12/10/09
Polycom Sweepstakes
Win Two High Res Video Conferencing Systems. $8,000 Value. Enter Now to Win!
Master Your Asset Retrieval
OnProcess helps leading companies return inventory faster, saving $$Millions
Used and Refurbished HP ProCurve Switches
Lifetime Warranties, Professional Testing & Shipping on all HP Equipment Purchases!
The blogs and comments are the opinions only of the writers and do not reflect the views of Light Reading. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
Motorola Ad
Most Popular
Read
Related Content
White Papers SPONSORED CONTENT
Featured
Future of Cable Business Service Ad
Podcasts SPONSORED CONTENT
Services Transformation - by Alcatel-Lucent Communications service providers want to be able to bring new services to...
Rural Ops Bridge the Digital Divide - by Tellabs Tellabs helps IOCs build triple play networks
Driving Network Transformation - by Alcatel-Lucent In order to deal with competitive pressures, the change in service models...
Back(haul) to the Future - by Tellabs Tellabs works with Vodafone to meet growing mobile broadband demands.
MRS Logistica - by Tellabs Tellabs helps MRS Logistica transform its existing, largely outdated TDM networks to IP.
Carrier Ethernet Offers an Enterprising Solution - by Tellabs What is VPLS and how does it work? Tellabs takes a closer look.
Swisscom’s Network Makeover - by Tellabs Fresh off the launch of 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, Swisscom sees 3G as an opportunity to launch a unifying ...
Telecom in Namibia - by Tellabs Tellabs helps Telecom Namibia with next-gen challenges
Companies
Alcatel-Lucent (5872), AT&T (1948), BellSouth (848), BT (1287), Cablevision (615), Cisco (5297), Comcast (1910), Cox Communications (858), Deutsche Telekom (807), eBay (Skype) (345), Ericsson (1617), France Telecom (964), Google (489), Huawei (1045), Intel (1127), Juniper (2022), Microsoft (1115), Motorola (1486), Nokia Siemens Networks (2645), Nortel (3956), NTT (173), Siemens (1359), Sprint (1059), Telefonica (439), Time Warner Cable (969), Verizon (2587), Vodafone (510), Yahoo (339)

Broadband
Access equipment (2169), Access technologies (2378), Broadband loop carriers / multiservice access nodes (388), Cable modem termination systems (CMTSs) (1104), Cable TV chips (286), DSL (2425), DSL chips (227), DSLAMs (703), Free-space optics (35), FTTx (3265), Gaming consoles (58), Gaming servers (22), Media adapters (23), Municipal networks (106), PON (1364), PON chips (217), Satellite (497), WiMax (880), Wireless LAN (354)

Cable Digital
Cable Modems (681), Cable/MSO equipment (2802), CableLabs (470), Compression (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4) (279), Docsis (1046), Embedded multimedia terminal adapters (E-MTAs) (213), Head-ends (233), PacketCable (129), QAM (307)

Chips, Components & Subsystems
ASICs & FPGAs (101), ATCA (480), ATM chips (13), Comm chips (2360), Dispersion compensators (149), Lasers (920), Modulators (163), Mux/demuxes (299), Network processors (933), Optical amplifiers (349), Optical channel monitors (92), Optical components (2824), Speciality fiber (94), Switches & OADMs (397), Transceivers (1247), Transmission fiber (419), Variable optical attenuators (139)

Ethernet
10-Gbit/s Ethernet switches (1454), Access devices (272), ATM switches (333), Circuit emulation (16), Converged access (103), Ethernet chips (573), Ethernet equipment (2212), Ethernet over copper (231), Ethernet PONs (160), Ethernet services (1909), Ethernet technologies (568), Multipoint (131), Multiservice edge equipment (143), Multiservice provisioning platforms (622), Multiservice switches (389), PBT (Provider Backbone Transport) (256), Point-to-point (139), Pseudowire (Layer 2 tunnels) (132)

IP & Convergence
B-RASs (229), Cell/WLAN (77), Compression equipment (13), Core routers (1294), DNS (56), Edge routers (1686), ENUM (53), Fixed/Mobile Convergence (485), GMPLS (76), IMS (1088), IMS Control Layer (27), IMS Service Layer (27), IP equipment (1224), IP software (381), IP technologies (1482), IPv6 (99), Layer 3 VPNs (194), MPLS (1774), MPLS (687), Multicast (36), P2P (258), Pseudowire (Layer 2 tunnels) (132), QOS (350), SIP (396), Traffic managers (808), Wireline/Wireless (59)

Mobile/Wireless
3G Evolution (175), Broadcast (Mobile TV, etc.) (189), Carrier WiFi (226), CDMA (3G) (367), Core Network (173), EV-DO (126), Femtocells (30), Fixed Wireless (Microwave, etc.) (71), Fourth Generation (4G) Wireless (70), GSM/EDGE (430), HSDPA/HSUPA (321), IMS Core (47), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (188), Mobile Advertising (24), Mobile Music (31), Mobile TV (130), Mobile Video (65), Mobile WiMax/WiBro (92), Mobile/Wireless (5877), Packet Core (61), Radio Access Network (236), TD-SCDMA (Chinese 3G) (67), Transmission (38), Ultra-Mobile Broadband (UMB) (8), UMTS(3G) (340), Voice Core (21), WiMax (880), Wireless Backhaul (272), Wireless Chips (191), Wireless LAN (354)

Optical Networking
40-Gbit/s transmission (452), Core optical switches (760), CWDM (289), DWDM (1842), Long-haul WDM equipment (654), Metro optical switches, ROADMs (1173), Metro WDM equipment (773), Multiservice provisioning platforms & add/drop muxes (375), Optical equipment (2191), Optical switches & crossconnects (398), Optical technologies (417), Sonet/SDH (1036), Sonet/SDH chips (351), Wavelength services (305)

Security
Anti-virus (29), Denial-of-service attacks (44), Encryption (97), Endpoint security (22), Firewalls (61), Intrusion detection & prevention (45), IPSec VPN (801), Security (1835), SSL VPN (862), URL filtering (12), User authentication (24)

Services Software
Activation (415), Billing systems (761), Content/software downloads (231), Customer relationship management (231), Data Integrity (61), Element management systems (36), Fault management (69), Inventory management (153), Mediation systems (204), Messaging (231), Middleware (72), Mobile location (41), OSS (2584), Performance monitoring (335), Policy control (269), Provisioning (553), Revenue assurance & fraud management (334), Service delivery platforms (SDPs) (328), Service management (220), Service-oriented architectures (310), Services (2480), Web gateways (56), Web services (124), XML (51)

Test & Measurement (Sponsored by Etaliq Inc)
Access equipment Access test & measurement equipment (126), Comm chips Comm chips test & measurement equipment (29), Ethernet equipment Ethernet test & measurement equipment (170), IP equipment IP test & measurement equipment (122), MPLS MPLS test & measurement equipment (14), Optical components Optical components test & measurement equipment (113), Optical equipment Optical test & measurement equipment (886), OSS OSS test & measurement (1059), Sonet/SDH Sonet/SDH test & measurement equipment (1599), Test & measurement (1755), VOIP equipment VOIP test & measurement equipment (145)

Video (Sponsored by Ericsson Televisionary)
Broadcast (Mobile TV, etc.) (189), Broadcast video equipment (including encoding) (730), Content delivery network (CDN) (394), Content protection (270), DVRs (665), Internet Video (840), IPTV (3461), Middleware & business support systems (845), Set-top boxes (1624), Stored video servers (379), TV (3581), Video equipment (2448), Video services (4130), Video software (1349), Videophone (185), VOD (2635)

VOIP
Application servers (186), Centrex (198), Conferencing (78), Contact centers (38), Enhanced voice (34), Enterprise (637), Media gateways (357), Messaging (73), Presence management (43), Residential (835), Session border controllers (398), Signaling gateways (104), Softswitches (1090), VOIP chips (167), VOIP equipment (3423), VOIP services (3768), VOIP software (620), VOIP VPNs (28), Wholesale (220)