Cisco Ordered to Pay $1.9 Billion in Patent Lawsuit

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) has lost the first round of a David-and-Goliath legal battle. The company has been ordered to pay roughly $1.9 billion in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by a far smaller business, privately held cybersecurity solutions provider Centripetal Networks.

U.S. District Judge Henry Morgan issued the ruling on Monday in the non-jury trial, finding that Cisco engaged in "willful and egregious" infringement of four out of five patents Centripetal held. The patents in dispute cover network protection technology; Centripetal accused Cisco of improperly appropriating its intellectual property for use in its own products.

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Source Fool.com