Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Litigation

v2.4.0.6
Litigation
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Litigation [Abstract]  
Litigation

NOTE J – LITIGATION

[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, Inx., Motorola Solutions, Inc., NEC Corporation, Polycom Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., ShoreTel, Inc., Sony Electronics, Inc., and Transitions Networks, Inc. Network-1 seeks monetary damages based upon reasonable royalties. Several of the defendants (Samsung, Polycom, Alcatel, ShorTel and Allied Telesis) have filed motions to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a cause of action. Network-1 has filed opposition in response to the motions to dismiss. All such motions are pending.

[2] 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 our 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, 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 which was settled with the other defendants in July 2010. As part of the settlement and under its 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 from the Company 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 Power over Ethernet products, including those Power over Ethernet products which comply with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers 802.3af and 802.3at Standards. Licensed products include Netgear's Power over Ethernet 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 made a payment of $350,000 to the Company with respect to the settlement.

[3] D-Link Settlement

In August 2007, the Company finalized the settlement of its patent infringement litigation against D-Link. 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 Company's 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 Company's Remote Power Patent based on units of shipments of licensed products. In June 2010, 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).

[4] Microsemi - PowerDsine Settlement

On November 16, 2005, the Company entered into a Settlement Agreement with PowerDsine, Inc. and PowerDsine Ltd. (collectively, "PowerDsine") which dismissed, with prejudice, patent litigation brought by PowerDsine against the Company in March 2004 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that sought a declaratory judgment that the Company's Remote Power Patent was invalid and not infringed by PowerDsine and/or its customers. Under the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the Company agreed that, under certain circumstances, it would not initiate litigation against PowerDsine for its sale of Power over Ethernet (PoE) integrated circuits. In addition, the Company agreed that it would not seek damages for infringement from customers that incorporate PowerDsine integrated circuit products in PoE capable Ethernet switches manufactured on or before April 30, 2006. PowerDsine agreed that it will not initiate, assist or cooperate in any legal action relating to the Remote Power Patent. In June 2008 the Company entered into a new 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 the prior Settlement Agreement entered into between the parties in November 2005. As part of the Company's Special Licensing Program and its agreement with Microsemi Analog entered into in June 2009, Microsemi entered into a license agreement, dated August 13, 2008, with the Company with respect to its 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 our Remote Power Patent (March 2020).