DirecTV plans to contest a $78.9 million jury verdict that found that the direct-broadcast satellite provider infringed on a patent held by Finisar. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Finisar -- which provides fiber-optic systems for high-speed-data networks -- was awarded the back damages from DirecTV last Friday. After a two-week trial in Federal District Court, a Beaumont, Texas, jury found that DirecTV and its affiliated companies directly and willfully infringed on Finisar's information-transmission patent and awarded the sizable verdict to the company. "We believe the jury's verdict is wrong and represents a distortion of patent-infringement law," DirecTV said in a prepared statement "We are confident the facts and law support our position, and we will contest this decision through post-trial motions or on appealThe jury's award was substantially less than the damages claimed by Finisar, and we believe the evidence will ultimately show there was no infringement."

Posted by GEN-ERIC at 03:12:02 am into the following categories: In The News

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