Avid said its patent infringement case against Harmonic is set to proceed to trial.
In a case that got underway in 2011 in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, Avid said it is seeking a “multimillion-dollar damages” over allegations that Harmonic is infringing on two patents.
Avid said the case centers on Harmonic’s MediaGrid storage system and Avid’s U.S. Patent Nos. 6,760,808 and 7,487,309 (Computer system and process for transferring multiple high bandwidth streams of data between multiple storage units and multiple applications in a scalable and reliable manner), and the Harmonic’s Spectrum media server system and Avid’s U.S. Patent No. 5,495,291 (Decompression system for compressed video data for providing uninterrupted decompressed video data output).
Following the latest rulings by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Avid said it plans to proceed to trial against Harmonic.
Avid said its case of infringement against Harmonic’s Spectrum products is scheduled for trial in November 2017, and noted that the court ordered a new trial in the MediaGrid case in 2016.
Harmonic sought to have the USPTO cancel the patent claims in Avid’s ‘808 and ‘309 Patents, but on May 12, 2017, the USPTO upheld the claims of Avid’s 309 Patent, but found the claims of the ‘808 Patent unpatentable (Avid plans to appeal that decision). With the ‘309 Patent confirmed as patentable, Avid said its infringement case against Harmonic and its MediaGrid system is expected to proceed to the new trial ordered by the Federal Circuit.
“Based on expert testimony, Avid expects its claim against Harmonic could result in up to $35 million in damages through 2013,” Avid said.
Harmonic, which outlined details of Avid’s legal actions in May via this 8-K filing, has been asked for further comment.
Update:Harmonic said it is not commenting about the case beyond what's stated in its SEC filings.
