Ribbon Communications, a brand with two decades of market leadership in providing secure and intelligent cloud communication services, recently announced further issues with MetaSwitch. Following previous legal actions taken against MetaSwitch for copyright infringements, Ribbon announced that additional lawsuits have been filed against the cloud-native communications company with the US District Court. The most recent lawsuit asks for enhanced damages after MetaSwitch has apparently continued to infringe upon seven Ribbon patents, from the GENBAND subsidiary. The previous lawsuit found MetaSwitch to be guilty of infringing on these patents in 2016, however, Ribbon claims that the company is still stepping on their toes today. The latest lawsuit also seeks damages due to “misleading” statements that MetaSwitch apparently issued regarding the prior suit.
A Complex Legal Battle
While the original lawsuit was filed by GENBAND in 2016, it wasn’t until the 22nd of March 2018 when the “Final Judgement” was released. In spring this year, the court confirmed that products such as the MetaSwitch SBC, Softswitches, and Gateways all infringed on 7 of Ribbon’s existing patents.
$8.9 million in damage was awarded to Ribbon Communications as a result of the first lawsuit, to cover a two-year period of infringement. Additionally, a further $368,046 in costs was awarded. The court also asked MetaSwitch to pay royalties for the two-year period when the company sold the infringing products.
In the suit filed on April 18th, 2018, Ribbon is seeking damages for continued infringement, claiming that the MetaSwitch redesigned products are still stepping on the toes of the company’s patents. Ribbon seeks a finding that MetaSwitch is willfully infringing on the same patents and have asked that the courts increase the royalty rate as a result.
The Quest for Justice
Ribbon Communications are seeking damages at a higher rate with their new suit, and they’re also looking for a further enhancement of those damages with the claim that MetaSwitch is purposefully copying items from Ribbon patents. The suit also suggests that MetaSwitch has made false statements by suggesting that the products have been “redesigned”.
The legal battle between MetaSwitch and Ribbon has been a long and complex one. In addition to the new suit filed in April, Ribbon has also recently filed two additional patent infringement suits against the cloud communications company, referencing an additional ten patents beyond the first 7 that were brought to light. The new patents come from the “Sonus” Ribbon subsidiary.
A trial is expected to take place in November this year where the courts will assess whether MetaSwitch has once again infringed on Ribbon patents, and if so, whether the act was willful, or simply an attempt to stay ahead of the ever-changing UC environment.
