Verizon Ordered To Pay $115M In Damages After Patent Loss

Certain smartphone companies may want to take note of this one: using patents aggressively can produce pushback from unexpected places. Verizon is on the hook for $115 million afterwards a major loss in court yesterday-one that, unless it’s overturned on appeal, could threaten the company’s FiOS internet service. Cloud-video provider ActiveVideo filed suit against Verizon not long afterwards Verizon used patents to attack Cablevision, ActiveVideo’s largest U.S. customer.

Interview with paidContent

In an interview with paidContent, ActiveVideo Networks CEO Jeff Miller said that filing a patent lawsuit was not an easy decision for his company, which is based in San Jose and has about 140 employees worldwide. “Our business focus has been to go out and sell products based on our patents,” said Miller. “We’ve not actually been interested in litigating-we’ve never done it earlier and it’s not our strategy.”

Verizon has been involved in high-stakes patent litigation previously, though it’s more often on the plaintiff’s side of the courtroom. In 2006, Verizon sued Vonage for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) patents, and ultimately extracted a settlement from Vonage worth up to $120 million. Nevertheless when Verizon used some of those same patents to go afterwards Cox Communications in 2008, it was rebuffed.