Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Legal Proceedings

v2.4.0.6
Legal Proceedings
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Notes to Financial Statements  
Legal Proceedings
NOTE D – LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
 
[1]  In September 2011, the Company initiated patent litigation against 16 data networking equipment manufacturers in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, for infringement of its Remote Power Patent.  Named as defendants in the lawsuit, excluding related parties, were Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., Allied Telesis, Inc., Avaya Inc., AXIS Communications Inc., Dell, Inc., GarrettCom, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Huawei Technologies USA, Juniper Networks, Inc., Motorola Solutions, Inc., NEC Corporation, Polycom Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., ShoreTel, Inc., Sony Electronics, Inc., and Transition Networks, Inc. The Company seeks monetary damages based upon reasonable royalties.  In March 2012, the Company reached settlement agreements with defendants Motorola Solutions, Inc. (“Motorola”) and Transition Networks, Inc. (“Transition Networks”).  As part of the settlements, Motorola and Transition Networks each entered into a non-exclusive license agreement for the Company’s Remote Power Patent pursuant to which each such defendant agreed to license the Remote Power Patent for its full term (which expires in March 2020) and pay a license initiation fee and quarterly royalties based on their sales of PoE products.  On June 27, 2012, defendants Axis Communications filed a motion to dismiss, or alternatively to sever, on the grounds of misjoinder.  Several defendants joined in the motion.  On July 12, 2012, the Company filed its opposition to the motion and a decision on the motion is pending.
 
[2]  On July 20, 2012, an unknown third party filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) a request for an Ex Parte Reexamination, requesting that the Company’s Remote Power Patent be reexamined by the USPTO.  On September 5, 2012, the USPTO issued an order granting the reexamination.  The initial grant of the reexamination by USPTO is not unusual as the majority of such applications are initially granted by the USPTO.  While management believes that the reexamination will further validate and strengthen the Remote Power Patent, should the USPTO reach a final determination that the Remote Power Patent is invalid (unless such determination is overturned by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interference or the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit), such a determination would have a material adverse effect on the Company as its entire revenue stream is dependent upon the continued validity of the Remote Power Patent.
 
[3]  In July 2010, the Company settled its patent litigation pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, against Adtran, Inc, Cisco Systems, Inc. and Cisco-Linksys, LLC, (collectively, “Cisco”), Enterasys Networks, Inc., Extreme Networks, Inc., Foundry Networks, Inc., and 3Com Corporation, Inc.  As part of the settlement, Adtran, Cisco, Enterasys, Extreme Networks and Foundry Networks each entered into a settlement agreement with the Company and entered into non-exclusive licenses for the Company’s Remote Power Patent (the “Licensed Defendants”).  Under the terms of the licenses, the Licensed Defendants paid the Company aggregate upfront payments of approximately $32 million and also agreed to license the Remote Power Patent for its full term, which expires in March 2020.  In accordance with the Settlement and License Agreement, dated May 25, 2011 (the “Agreement”), which expanded upon the July 2010 agreement, Cisco is obliged to pay the Company royalties (which began in the first quarter of 2011) based on its sales of PoE products up to maximum royalty payments per year of $8 million through 2015 and $9 million per year thereafter for the remaining term of the patent.  The royalty payments are subject to certain conditions including the continued validity of the Company’s Remote Power Patent, and the actual royalty amounts received may be less than the caps stated above, as was the case in 2011.  Under the terms of the Agreement, if the Company grants other licenses with lower royalty rates to third parties (as defined in the Agreement), Cisco shall be entitled to the benefit of the lower royalty rates provided it agrees to the material terms of such other license.  Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company has certain obligations to Cisco and if it materially breaches such terms, Cisco will be entitled to stop paying royalties to the Company.  This would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.  For more details about the July 2010 settlement, please see the Company’s Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 20, 2010 and June 1, 2011.
 
In May 2009, the Company achieved a settlement with Netgear, Inc. (“Netgear”), also a defendant in the above referenced litigation in Tyler, Texas.  As part of the settlement and under the Company’s Special Licensing Program, Netgear entered into a license agreement with the Company for the Remote Power Patent, effective April 1, 2009. Under the terms of the license, Netgear licenses the Remote Power Patent for its full term which expires in March 2020, and pays quarterly royalties (which began as of April 1, 2009) based on its sales of PoE products, including those PoE products which comply with the Institute of Electrical  and Electronic Engineers 802.3af and 802.3at Standards.  Licensed products include Netgear’s PoE enabled switches and wireless access points.  The royalty rates included in the license are 1.7% of the sales price of Power Sourcing Equipment, which includes Ethernet switches, and 2% of the sales price of Powered Devices, which includes wireless access points.  The royalty rates are subject to adjustment, under certain circumstances, if the Company grants a license to other licensees with lower royalty rates and Netgear is able to and agrees to assume all material terms and conditions of such other license. In addition, Netgear paid the Company $350,000 upon the signing of the license agreement.
 
 [4]  In August 2007, the Company finalized the settlement of patent litigation against D-Link Corporation and D-Link Systems, Incorporated (collectively “D-Link”) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler division.  Under the terms of the settlement, D-Link entered into a license agreement for the Company’s Remote Power Patent the terms of which included monthly royalty payments of 3.25% (subject to adjustment as noted below) of the net sales of D-Link Power over Ethernet products, including those products which comply with the IEEE 802.3af and 802.3at Standards, for the full term of the Remote Power Patent, which expires in March 2020.  In addition, D-Link paid the Company $100,000 upon signing of the Settlement Agreement.  The royalty rate is subject to adjustment to a rate consistent with other similarly situated licensees of the Remote Power Patent based on units of shipments of licensed products.   In September 2009, based upon several licenses issued to third parties under the Company’s Special Licensing Program, the Company agreed with D-Link to adjust the royalty rate to 1.7% of the sales price for Power Servicing Equipment (which includes Ethernet switches) and 2.0% of the sales price for Powered Devices (which includes wireless access points).
 
 [5]  In June 2008, the Company entered into an agreement with Microsemi Corp-Analog Mixed Signal Group Ltd (“Microsemi Analog”), previously PowerDsine Ltd, a subsidiary of Microsemi Corporation (“Microsemi”), a leading manufacturer of high performance analog mixed-signal integrated circuits and high reliability semiconductors, which, among other things, amended a prior settlement agreement entered into between the Company and PowerDsine Ltd. in November 2005.  As part of the Company’s Special Licensing Program and its agreement with Microsemi Analog entered into in September 2008, Microsemi entered into a license agreement, dated August 13, 2008, with the Company with respect to the Remote Power Patent.  The license agreement provides that Microsemi is obligated to pay the Company quarterly royalty payments of 2% of the sales price for certain of Microsemi’s Midspan PoE products for the full term of the Remote Power Patent which expires in March 2020.