Openet Wins Legal Battle With Amdocs

Irish policy management specialist Openet Telecom Ltd. has seen off a legal challenge from Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX) following two years of court proceedings, the company announced Tuesday.

In 2010 Amdocs accused Openet of infringing its intellectual property and issued a formal legal challenge in August of that year, a move that "surprised" Openet CEO Niall Norton at the time. (See Amdocs Sues Openet and Openet 'Surprised' by Amdocs Legal Action.)

But in this Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) David versus Goliath encounter, Openet has prevailed, with Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia ruling that the defendant had not infringed Amdocs' patents in its mediation software.

Not surprisingly, Openet is thrilled that its legal ordeal is over and that the court found in its favor, and has issued a press release to share its views. (See Openet Wins Summary Judgement in Patent Suit.)

Amdocs declined to comment on the issue.

Both companies are significant players in the policy management sector, which is set to grow by about 30 percent year-on-year to top US$600 million in 2012, according to the latest Heavy Reading Policy Control & DPI Market Tracker, due to be published soon.

Why this matters
The legal challenge by Amdocs came just as Openet was breaking into Tier 1 operator accounts with its policy and charging management platforms and forced the Irish specialist to divert some of its attention and resources towards the court case.

Nine months later, in July 2011, Amdocs announced its plan to acquire policy management specialist Bridgewater Systems. (See Amdocs to Buy Bridgewater for $215M.)

With the case now concluded, Openet is better placed to pursue its IPO plans, which it was putting in place in mid-2010. (See SPIT Watch: iPad, IPO & M&A.)

Light Reading is awaiting a response from Openet about the status of its IPO intentions. The company, which recently raised $21 million in funding, had been on course to reach the $100 million revenues mark in 2011.

For more

• Openet Boasts Major Cable Deployment
  
• Telus Selects Openet
  
• Openet Boasts Signaling Management Deal
  
• Openet Launches Interaction Gateway
  
• Openet Raises $21M
  
• Openet Supports VoLTE
  
• Openet Teams With Bytemobile
  
• Openet Tracks Subscriber Usage

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading