Avid claims multimillion-dollar damages award for two patent infringements against Harmonic for its MediaGrid storage system and Spectrum media server system.
Avid has announced that it will proceed to trial against Harmonic to address a patent infringement litigation that has been ongoing against the latter since 2011. The case against Harmonic is scheduled for trial in November 2017.
Since October 2011, Avid has brought two patent infringement lawsuits against Harmonic in the United States District Court one involving Harmonics MediaGrid storage system and the other involving Harmonics Spectrum media server system. Harmonic has responded to these suits by seeking to have the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the USPTO) review and nullify Avids patents through procedures known as reexamination and inter partes review.
In 2014, the USPTO rejected Harmonics challenges to claims 11-16 of Avids 291 Patent, and Harmonic unsuccessfully appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., which upheld the claims in 2016.
Likewise, after that same court ordered a new trial in the MediaGrid case in 2016, Harmonic sought to have the USPTO cancel the patent claims in Avids 808 and 309 Patents. On May 12, 2017, the USPTO upheld the claims of Avids 309 Patent, but found the claims of the 808 Patent unpatentable.
Now that the claims of the 309 Patent have been confirmed as patentable, Avids infringement case against Harmonic and its MediaGrid system is expected to proceed to the new trial ordered by the Federal Circuit.
In a press statement, Avid commented that its claim against Harmonic could result in up to $35 million in damages through 2013.
Avid expects that this amount has increased materially since then. However, the outcome of litigation is inherently uncertain and Avid may not recover any or all of damages it seeks. Additionally, Avid currently plans to appeal the USPTOs decision with respect to the 808 Patent to the Federal Circuit, the statement added.
