(UPI via NewsEdge) A US district court jury ordered Nortel Networks to pay $28 million to an Australian company for illegally using its computer networking technology.
The Marshall, Texas, jury said the Toronto multinational telecommunications-equipment manufacturer infringed a patent held by Ipernica of Perth, Australia. The 2-year-old case entangle most major North American computer networking companies, including Cisco Systems, Alcatel-Lucent and Juniper Networks.
But all the other companies settled with Ipernica, formerly known as QPSX, reports said. Ipernica argued Nortel violated its US patent for a statistical multiplexing system in several Nortel switching products. The disputed patent, filed in the early 1990s, covers a method of ensuring telecommunications switches and routers operate efficiently, the newspaper said.
Ipernica estimated the technology is used in $2 billion worth of networking products by several manufacturers a year. It has sought royalties of up to 7%. Nortel had no immediate comment on the jury verdict.
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