A patent-licensing firm is trying to squeeze cash from the six
largest cable operators, alleging they infringe on two patents it owns
related to video on demand technology.
A holding company
identified as Pragmatus VOD LLC sued Comcast, Time Warner Cable,
Cablevision Systems, Cox Communications, Charter Communications and
Bright House Networks. The suit, filed Jan. 20 in the U.S. District
Court for the District of Delaware, seeks unspecified damages for "past
infringement and any continuing or future infringement."
The
patents in questions are U.S. Patent Nos. 5,581,479 ("Information
service control point, which uses different types of storage devices,
which retrieves information as blocks of data, and which uses a trunk
processor for transmitting information") and 5,636,139 ("Information
service control point which retrieves information as blocks of data").
Charter said in a statement, "Charter is reviewing the allegations of the lawsuit and plans to vigorously defend itself."
