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LEGAL PROCEEDINGS - 16 Data Networking Companies (Details Narrative)
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0 Months Ended | 1 Months Ended | 0 Months Ended | 1 Months Ended | ||||||
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Jul. 12, 2012
Patent Litigation Against 16 Data Networking Companies
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Jun. 27, 2012
Patent Litigation Against 16 Data Networking Companies
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May 14, 2012
Patent Litigation Against 16 Data Networking Companies
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Mar. 31, 2012
Patent Litigation Against 16 Data Networking Companies
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Sep. 30, 2011
Patent Litigation Against 16 Data Networking Companies
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May 25, 2011
Intellectual property patent litigation settlement
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Jul. 31, 2010
Intellectual property patent litigation settlement
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May 31, 2009
Intellectual property patent litigation settlement
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Sep. 30, 2009
D-Link property patent litigation settlement
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Aug. 31, 2007
D-Link property patent litigation settlement
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| Gain Contingencies [Line Items] | ||||||||||
| Domicile of Litigation | United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division | United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division | United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler division | |||||||
| Description of allegations | Infringement of Remote Power Patent | |||||||||
| Name of Defendants | Axis Communications AB and Axis Communications Inc | 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. | Adtran, Inc, Cisco Systems, Inc. and Cisco-Linksys, LLC, (collectively, "Cisco"), Enterasys Networks, Inc., Extreme Networks, Inc., Foundry Networks, Inc., and 3Com Corporation, Inc. | D-Link Corporation and D-Link Systems, Incorporated (collectively “D-Link”) | ||||||
| Number of Defendants | 16 | |||||||||
| Description damages sought | Seeks monetary damages based upon reasonable royalties | |||||||||
| Actions Taken By Court | The Court granted in part and denied in part defendant Samsung's motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action (several other defendants joined in the motion), and granted the Company leave to file an amended complaint which has been filed. | |||||||||
| Actions taken by Defendant | A motion to dismiss, or alternatively to sever, on the grounds of misjoinder | |||||||||
| Actions taken by Plaintiff | The Company has filed its opposition to the motion and a decision on the motion is pending. | |||||||||
| Settlement agreement counterpartys name | Motorola Solutions, Inc. ("Motorola") and Transition Networks, Inc. ("Transition Networks") | Cisco Systems, Inc. and Cisco-Linksys, LLC, (collectively, "Cisco") | Adtran, Cisco, Enterasys, Extreme Networks and Foundry Networks | Netgear, Inc. ("Netgear") | D-Link Corporation and D-Link Systems, Incorporated (collectively “D-Link”) | |||||
| Settlement agreement, Terms | 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 | 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 | License the Remote Power Patent for its full term, which expires in March 2020 |
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 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) | Under the terms of the settlement, D-Link entered into a license agreement for the Company’s Remote Power Patent the terms of which include 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. 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 | ||||