Cisco Systems has been hit with a lawsuit by tiny Florida routing technology company ConnecTel, accusing the networking giant of infringing four key routing technology patents that pick the best data path and route for multiple-factor information packets.
In a complaint filed November 2 in federal court, ConnecTel charged Cisco with wrongly using the patents the company said were created by its founder, Allen Kaplan. ConnecTel said it filed for the patents in 1996. ConnecTel also accuses Cisco of rejecting a licensing offer several years earlier while still using the technology in its own products.
This technology is believed to be useful for Internet-based video services, since it avoids the kind of congestion that plagues live streaming broadcasts, according to a published report. Other companies to develop similar routing technologies include Internap Network, EdgeStream, and RouteScience, but ConnecTel is believed never to have made its own products using the Kaplan technology, staying with licensing it to a number of companies its litigation filing didn't name.
Dallas-based patent attorney Daniel Perez told reporters ConnecTel wants unspecified damages and an injunction ordering Cisco to stop the alleged infringement. He also said ConnecTel has not yet considered action against the other four companies who have developed routing technology products.
"My client will assert its rights granted by the patent to the full extent of the law," he said. "Cisco is the most significant player, and we are concentrating on them right now."
