A U.S. judge on Monday ordered Cisco Systems Inc to pay $1.9 billion to a Virginia company that accused it of copying its cybersecurity patents.
U.S. District Judge Henry Morgan in Norfolk, Virginia, concluded after a monthlong non-jury trial that Cisco infringed four patents belonging to Centripetal Networks Inc, of Herndon, Virginia. He found no infringement of a fifth patent.
In a 167-page decision, Morgan said the case was “not a close call,” citing inconsistencies in Cisco’s evidence and that its own technical documents, many of which Centripetal itself introduced at trial, “proved Centripetal’s case.”
The payout includes an $1.89 billion award, reflecting $755.8 million in actual damages suffered by privately held Centripetal multiplied by 2.5 to reflect Cisco’s “willful and egregious” conduct, plus prejudgment interest. […]
