The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is seeking to shine light on the many sealed and heavily redacted filings related to a recently settled patent case involving Charter Communications and Entropic Communications.
The two companies settled Entropic's lawsuit in a U.S. District Court in Texas over Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) technologies in December. (You can read the case here.)
But according to digital rights advocacy group EFF, the two sides made so much of their beef secret, it's difficult to gauge the impact of the complaint and resulting settlement on the ever-evolving DOCSIS standard, which is the foundation of cable broadband.
"EFF’s motion argues that the legal issues in the case and their potential implications for the DOCSIS standard are a matter of public concern and asks the district court judge hearing the case to provide greater public access," wrote the group's senior policy analyst, Joe Mullin, and Aaron Mackey, its chief transparency and free speech litigator, in a blog post.
"In Entropic, both sides are experienced litigants who should know that this type of sealing is improper," the pair added. "Unfortunately, over-broad secrecy is common in patent litigation, particularly in cases filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas."
EFF has filed this motion to unseal the court records.
Entropic has recently sued other cable companies, including Comcast and Cox Communications, as well as satellite TV companies DirecTV and Dish Network.
