Cisco ordered to pay $70 Million for civil fraud by the Jury

The jury has said that Cisco will have to pay $70 Million as compensation to patent licensing firm XpertUniverse in a civil fraud case. It is also decided in a federal court in Wilmington, Delaware that Cisco infringed 2 patents, where they have to cough out $34,000 more.

XpertUniverse claimed that Cisco violated a NDA they signed for the patents. The NDA stated that Cisco would be re-selling XpertUnite’s software that would connect customers with call centre experts. The networking company contacted XpertUniverse in 2004 and worked together until 2007, followed by a lawsuit in 2009.

During the trial, XpertUniverse claimed that Cisco kept them on waiting in hopes of a tempting partnership deal, but Cisco had already rejected the deal. It also alleged that Cisco’s actions had led to the company’s destruction.

However XperUniverse claimed that Cisco’s “Expert on Demand” software infringes on the 7366709 and 7499903 patents. Cisco says however, that if the judge leaves the verdict intact, then they will make an appeal. Cisco also believes that the evidence presented during the trial did not support the verdict. On the other side, XpertUniverse’s legal team feels happy about it.

Via: Slashgear