© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Cisco brand is displayed, through the GSMA’s 2023 Cell World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain March 1, 2023. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photograph
By Blake Brittain
(Reuters) – A federal decide in Virginia has rejected cybersecurity firm Centripetal Networks’ patent infringement claims in opposition to Cisco Methods (NASDAQ:) in a multi-billion-dollar battle over network-security expertise.
A unique decide in the identical courtroom, U.S. District Decide Henry Morgan, had awarded Centripetal $2.75 billion within the case in 2020, marking the biggest patent damages award in U.S. historical past. A federal appeals courtroom later overturned that award on ethics grounds as a result of Morgan’s spouse owned Cisco inventory.
Morgan had died within the interim, and the appeals courtroom directed that the case be heard by a brand new decide. U.S. District Decide Elizabeth Hanes held new hearings within the case and dominated on Monday that Cisco didn’t infringe the patents.
Representatives for Centripetal and Cisco didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Tuesday.
Reston, Virginia-based Centripetal sued Cisco in 2018, claiming Cisco’s routers, network-security software program and different merchandise infringed patents associated to Centripetal’s expertise for blocking safety threats from coming into a pc community.
Morgan dominated for Centripetal in 2020 after a non-jury trial. He awarded Centripetal $1.9 billion in damages, plus royalties that Cisco mentioned elevated the whole to greater than $2.7 billion.
Morgan advised the businesses earlier than issuing his ruling that he had realized his spouse owned 100 shares of Cisco inventory price $4,688. He mentioned that he was unaware of the inventory through the trial and that it had not influenced his dealing with of the case.
The U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the Federal Circuit threw out the award and despatched the case again to the Virginia courtroom. The appeals courtroom discovered that Morgan both ought to have recused himself from the case or made positive the inventory was offered.
The U.S. Supreme Court docket later declined to assessment the Federal Circuit’s choice.
