Small cybersecurity firm Centripetal Networks, based in Virginia, won big-time in its patent dispute with Cisco.
Judge Henry Morgan, after presiding over an eight-week "virtual" bench trial in the Eastern District Court of Virginia, ordered Cisco to pay $1.9 billion in damages – one the biggest patent awards in US history – for infringing on four patents. An infringement claim on a fifth patent was not upheld, however.
The payout was 2.5 times more than the $755.8 million the District Court judged Cisco to owe Centripetal in actual damages. Morgan said he bumped up the award because the tech giant's patent infringements were "willful and egregious."
Morgan was scathing about Cisco's handling of the dispute. In a 167-page decision on the "Centripetal Networks Inc v Cisco Systems" case, he said it was "not a close call." He cited inconsistencies in Cisco's evidence and technical documents that "proved Centripetal's case."
For good measure, Morgan added that Cisco – with regard to the four patents – "did not advance any objectively reasonable defenses at trial."