The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has confirmed Arista infringed another two Cisco patents covering critical core networking technology. Cisco said the latest ruling, outlined in the ITC’s Initial Determination (second investigation in ‘944 case), brings the total number of Cisco patents that Arista infringed to five. The ruling concerns US Patents 6,377,577 (Access Control List Processing In Hardware) and 7,224,668 (Control Plane Security and Traffic Flow Management). Cisco said the technologies, required to improve the operation of networking products, and to protect the control plane of a router or switch, are included in Arista’s entire line of switches.
In June, the ITC found that Arista infringed three patents in the ‘944 case. As a result of the first ruling, an import ban and cease and desist order were put in place, and because Arista continued to sell despite these orders, the ITC began an enforcement investigation in September.
Cisco understands that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has recently sent Arista a letter indicating that CBP considers Arista’s redesigned products outside the scope of the ITC’s Exclusion Order. The ITC is not bound by that decision and will issue its own decision in the Enforcement Action. Unlike the CBP process, both Cisco and the ITC can and are participating in the Enforcement Action. CBP acknowledge it will be bound by the ITC’s enforcement determination and will carry out any actions mandated by that decision.
Similar to the first ITC investigation, this ‘945 ruling is subject to a full Commission Review. This is expected to be complete by 9 April, 2017. If a new import ban is implemented, Cisco expects it would begin on 9 June. Cisco noted that Arista has stockpiled products and components since the first ITC ruling, and has indicated it will soon be using local manufacturing facilities. Cisco added that local manufacturing using unlawfully imported components is not a legal workaround, and still violates the Commission’s exclusion and cease and desist orders.
The company is this week in the Northern California District Court to present its case to a jury about Arista’s copyright infringement of Cisco’s User Interface. The case includes infringement of a separate, valid Cisco patent, which relates to Cisco’s innovative command line interface technology. The case is expected to conclude by 12 December, with a jury verdict shortly after that.
