Verizon Loses Appeal on Phone Technology Patents by not Speaking up in Court
On April 16, 2010, the Federal Circuit denied Verizon’s request for a new trial in its patent infringement litigation against Cox, Inc. Verizon holds a number of patents regarding packet-switched telephone systems. This technology is used to break up the audio of a phone call, convert it into packets, and send those packets across a network. Verizon sued Cox for infringement after Cox began offering telephone service over its private cable network that used packet-switching technology. Among other issues, Verizon asserted that Cox made improper arguments to the jury about claim scope. During closing arguments, Cox’s lawyer told the jury that it needed to interpret the non-construed terms in the claim as a person with ordinary skill in the art would and this was the reason why the jury had been presented evidence at the trial. The Federal Circuit determined that the district court’s refusal to grant a new trial was not in error because the court had instructed the jury that the closing statements were not evidence, Verizon did not request a limiting instruction based on Cox’s arguments at trial, and Verizon did not rebut these arguments during closing. See Verizon Services Corp. v. Cox Fibernet Virginia, Inc., No. 2009-1086, -1098 (Fed. Circ. Apr. 16, 2010) available at http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions/09-1086.pdf
By Brett Havranek
