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story category Charter Sues Verizon
Claims telco is violating four patents with FiOS
09:06AM Thursday Jan 08 2009 by Karl Bode
tags: competition · business · cable · Verizon FIOS · Charter Pipeline
Charter Communications has filed suit against Verizon, alleging that the telco's fiber to the home FiOS service violates four patents, according to Star Telegram. Verizon should be forced to pay damages and stop using the on-demand and other technologies covered by the patents without permission, according to a Charter complaint filed in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia. Verizon's deep pockets might be appealing to the struggling cable operator, Verizon spending $24 billion on FiOS upgrades alone. Meanwhile, Charter owes nearly that much in debt: $21 billion.

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Forums » Charter Sues Verizon
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Post a:
Rob2647

join:2008-08-12
Rochester, MI

What I don't get...

is that Charter is coming out with this suit now? Sounds like they are gold digging. If they can't handle the competition, then they may as well go belly up.
battleop

join:2005-09-28
00000

Re: What I don't get...

I don't get it either. Why did they wait until Vonage was well established before they sued them? Karma is a bitch.

cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
·Verizon FIOS

Unlike trademarks that must be defended early on before it becomes diluted, patents can be sat on for a period of time before a lawsuit is filed. If Charter knew that Verizon was infringing and sat on it, allowing Verizon's use to grow in the hopes to increase what could be recovered in a lawsuit, then damages may be limited. However if Charter informed Verizon very early on of the violation but continued to use it or if Verizon knew that it was violating the patent, then damages may be increased.

LiamJunket
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Ocean City, NJ
·Comcast


2 edits

Charter paying back Verizon for their patent lawsuit

To me this looks like it is nothing more than payback and a legal maneuver to counter Verizon's patent lawsuit against Charter filed in 2007. Verizon started this war by trying to kill off Charter's VOIP service.

»www.star-telegram.com/100/story/1129882.html
Verizon sued Charter in February 2007 in federal court in Texarkana, Texas, claiming infringement on eight patents for providing telephone services on a data network. That case is pending.
End result will probably be an out-of-court settlement where they drop the lawsuits against each other.
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GlobalMind
Domino Dude, POWER Systems Guy
Premium
join:2001-10-29
Hollywood, FL

Seriously?

It seems to me that Charter's the last one who would have standing to do this. And if Verizon's infringing, you're telling me no one else is? Do they have a license in place for Comcast and others?

Sounds like SCO's "business model by lawsuit" methodology.

FAIL.
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mb

join:2000-07-23
Washington, NJ

Re: Seriously?

Does Verizon vs Vonage ring a bell? This is just the new way of doing business...

Hall
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH
·EarthLink
·AT&T Midwest
·Earthlink Cable Mo..

said by GlobalMind See Profile :

It seems to me that Charter's the last one who would have standing to do this. And if Verizon's infringing, you're telling me no one else is? Do they have a license in place for Comcast and others?
Doesn't matter if others are also doing it. If Charter won against Verizon, when they sue the next party, they use the 'Charter vs Verizon' case as precedent.

GlobalMind
Domino Dude, POWER Systems Guy
Premium
join:2001-10-29
Hollywood, FL

Re: Seriously?

said by Hall See Profile :

said by GlobalMind See Profile :

It seems to me that Charter's the last one who would have standing to do this. And if Verizon's infringing, you're telling me no one else is? Do they have a license in place for Comcast and others?
Doesn't matter if others are also doing it. If Charter won against Verizon, when they sue the next party, they use the 'Charter vs Verizon' case as precedent.
The point is, are they currently issuing licenses for these patents? Whether a patent holder has attempted to collect on licenses in the past, enforce the patent has come up as issue in the past with other cases.

Essentially sitting on one for years and then when you're running out of money suddenly decide to enforce it throws up red flags.

I suspect TK is right. They're posturing. They want Verizon to drop their suit. Once that happens this one will disappear as well.

ropeguru
Premium
join:2001-01-25
Hollywood, FL
clubs:
·VOIPo

Re: Seriously?

Doesn't matter is they are issuing any rights to use the patent or not. If I own the patent, I have the right to do with it what I want. If I don't want to issue rights to use it I don't have to. Many good patents are bought up by companies that compete against their own products. Once the patents are purchased, they are shelved to never see the day of light again until the patent runs out.

cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
·Verizon FIOS

said by GlobalMind See Profile :

Essentially sitting on one for years and then when you're running out of money suddenly decide to enforce it throws up red flags.
Attempting to enforce the patent may have been more expensive then what licensing might have brought in.

In the past telcos weren't in the cable tv business and in most areas, the cable company had a monopoly. Suing a competitor in the industry that doesn't really offer competition on your home turf may be of limited advantage. However now that the telcos are offering legitimate competition in the same service areas as the cable companies, the cable companies are trying to find angles to slow them down.

I agree as well that this is a little posturing and a little retaliatory, but that's big business for you.

AMDUSER
Premium
join:2003-05-28
Earth
clubs:
·RoadRunner Cable

The other possiblility is that Verzon could ask for a stay while it takes care of its VoIP lawsuit against them.

I'm sure Verizon could afford to outspend Charter for its legal dept. Even if it did not get to the determination if Verizon was infringing or not; Charter could possibly be put into bankruptcy by legal costs.

spewak
Kiss It, Kiss It Real Good
Premium
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA

The American Way!

If you can't compete, SUE!

Eat Me

join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage
·PenTeleData

Re: The American Way!

said by spewak See Profile :

If you can't compete, SUE!
Maybe that's why Verizon sued Vonage?
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20

said by spewak See Profile :

If you can't compete, SUE!
It's comments like this that crack me up.

Keep emotion out of it...

.. its up for the courts to decide if there is a case. People (and business) has a right to file a "complaint" when they feel they have been damaged by the other party. The courts will hear the arguments and weight the evidence. If the case holds water, they make the ruling in favor.. THAT is the American way!

What ISN'T the American way is to pre-judge people becuase of what you see on the surface, theory, personal desire, etc.

If the case goes through and Charter does win, are you willing to retract your silly statement? ...becuase LORD knows, Verizon does no wrong.. I mean, THEY have FIBER!!

Here's the other truth that people OFTEN don't realize..

1) Patents are infringed on all the time with out realizing it. To think that only one person can think of how to do something is silly. People should do their homework on patents first.

2) The big boys (those with money) love to play games of Risk where they often find its cheaper to do this and battle it out in court later. This is similar to those businesses that will, say, violate the law to make $10 million dollars by their actions knowing they will only be fined $1 million to do so.

NO ONE here, yet, knows the truth, merit, or outcome of this complaint.. but one thing is certain no matter what, even if Charter is right, Verizon wins no matter what based on their momentum and showing off a pretty good product.

cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
·Verizon FIOS

Re: The American Way!

said by fiberguy See Profile :

NO ONE here, yet, knows the truth, merit, or outcome of this complaint.. but one thing is certain no matter what, even if Charter is right, Verizon wins no matter what based on their momentum and showing off a pretty good product.
I wouldn't say that Verizon wins no matter what. When all the dust settles, Verizon is still going to be doing the same thing they are doing now. The only unknown is if Charter is going to be a the one that is licensing it to VZ, if Charter is going to have nothing if the Courts find that they have nothing, or if there is some type of a licensing exchange where each side gets to use the other's patents.

Whatever the patents are, Charter isn't going to just sit on them. They can make more by licensing them to the competition. Yes it helps out the competition in allowing them to provide a (hopefully) better service, but it allows a company to hedge it's bets. If the competition is successful, they have gotten a cut of the competition's success. If they aren't, they've still gotten a cut of the action and their competition failed. It's all a matter of how much you "win".

SparkChaser
'til we outnumber em
Premium
join:2000-06-06
Downingtown, PA

Sue vs. Sue

Verizon sued Charter in February 2007 in federal court in Texarkana, Texas, claiming infringement on eight patents for providing telephone services on a data network. That case is pending.
goillini

join:2006-04-26
Madison, WI

patents?

Who knew Charter had any patents? I didn't think you could get a patent for "ineptitude" -- even though they have it down to a science, I'm sure there's plenty of prior art on that.

SterlingJ85
Obama 2008

join:2000-11-19
Millville, NJ

Re: patents?

LOL

That was quite good sir.
majortom1029

join:2006-10-19
Lindenhurst, NY
It could be patents on video. Why not verizon is suing them for patents on phone calls so why not sue verizon for breaking your patents on tv.

Heck verzioln sued vonage because they couldnt compete with them.
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20

Re: patents?

said by majortom1029 See Profile :

Heck verzioln sued vonage because they couldnt compete with them.
No, they didn't. They sued them because they owned the patents and Vonage violated them. I think the courts disagree with you there. While your statement is 'cute' for a site like BBR, the facts also show a different story.. if you look at WHEN the suit was filed, it was after they went public with certain records that showed VZ what they were doing.

The case went to court, and the ruling spoke.

If Vonage, as much as I like their service, stole VZ's patented technology to compete against them with it, then they deserve what they got.

You can't infringe on someone's property in the name of competition and low prices. If I stole apple's Mac O/S code, repacked it with the name "Orange O/S" and half the price and people gobbled it up and loved it, and I got sued for it, I'd deserve it.. EVEN IF people enjoyed the lower price over that of Apple's price..

So hate to disagree with you (actually I don't, but..) No, Verizon didn't sue Vonage simple becuase they couldn't compete with them.

Thank god its law that governs our nation, not emotions.

David
Last man standing
Premium,VIP
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL
clubs:
·magicjack.com
·AT&T Midwest

Re: patents?

said by fiberguy See Profile :

If I stole apple's Mac O/S code, repacked it with the name "Orange O/S" and half the price and people gobbled it up and loved it, and I got sued for it, I'd deserve it.. EVEN IF people enjoyed the lower price over that of Apple's price..
For reference this is going on currently. It's apple vs. psystar, Psystar is selling OSx86 cloned computers. last check was Psystar is claiming Apple is a monopoly.
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20

Re: patents?

Really? lol

I was just pulling an example out of my bum.

David
Last man standing
Premium,VIP
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL
clubs:
·magicjack.com
·AT&T Midwest

Re: patents?

said by fiberguy See Profile :

Really? lol

I was just pulling an example out of my bum.
yep...

For reference:

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psystar_Corporation

»www.informationweek.com/news/har···09100229

»www.informationweek.com/news/har···12100757

»Psystar claims Apple forgot to copyright Mac OS X
--
If you have a topic in the direct forum please reply to it or a post of mine, I get a notification when you do this.
Koetting Ford, Granite City, illinois... YOU'RE FIRED!!

joe01880

join:2007-10-26
Wakefield, MA
·Verizon FIOS

I get it

Charter is flat broke so they are trying to piss Verizon off so that Verizon Buys Charter.
The Charter execs get a buy out package, their debt goes away and half of Charters employee's get screwed out of their jobs.

Its good business
Lazlow

join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO

Re: I get it

I really doubt it. Although personally I wish it would happen. As far as I can tell the majority of Charter's foot print, that is not in Verizon's turf already, is in ATT's turf. While Versizon is competing in a few markets with ATT they have avoided doing so on any real scale. I do not think they are ready to open that can of worms at this time.
zed260

join:2007-09-30
Cleveland, TN

Re: I get it

id love for Verizon to buy charter out however i highly doubt that would ever happen

its more likely in my view that Verizon buys at&t long before they'd buy charter

effcharter

@rcn.com

haha

charter is desperate. every former charter customer in the dallas area has switched to fios.
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20

Re: haha

said by effcharter :

charter is desperate. every former charter customer in the dallas area has switched to fios.
Really? WOW! That's got to be a record customer gain!! Please visit »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_L···hind_Act

cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
·Verizon FIOS

The patents involved

Below are the 4 patents involved in the lawsuit:

Method and apparatus for providing subscription-on-demand services for an interactive information distribution system

Method and apparatus for providing dynamic pricing services for an interactive information distribution system

Data transmission method and apparatus

Data packet structure for digital information distribution

From my understanding of the patents, the first two are essentially patents on a VOD subscription and paying for said subscription, the third one is stacking multiple channels within a traditional 6MHz frequency range, and the last looks like a variation of IPTV. None of them are particular to real particular to FiOS TV and I would imagine that almost all providers that offer VOD are at risk for infringement.

Many times patents like these are kept more as a defense then a true offense. Each company has a portfolio that they use to protect themselves from their competition. One two competitors sue each other, out comes the portfolios and they throw infringement accusations back and forth until they settle or one companies licenses the other.

mmainprize

join:2001-12-06
Houghton Lake, MI

Not much time left

Charter has to hope it dont go broke before the court battle is over. These thing go on for years and i don't think charter can.
Forums » Charter Sues Verizon


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