Moto wins dismissal of Rembrandt suit
Motorola Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Comcast Corp. were among companies that won a court order dismissing modem-patent infringement claims filed by the licensing firm Rembrandt Technologies LP.
A jury trial in the cases was to begin Jan. 11 in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware. U.S. District Judge Gregory M. Sleet dismissed the claims over eight patents Oct. 23 after Rembrandt, based in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, signed an agreement not to sue.
"This is the poster boy for sending a message to people that you can't bring cases that have no merit," defendants' lawyer Steven Cherny told Sleet in a conference Oct. 1, according to a court transcript. He declined to comment in a phone interview.
Rembrandt sued more than a dozen small and large companies in 2006 and 2007 contending they infringed the patents. Rembrandt says on its Web site that it "identifies and acquires patents that hold great market potential" and "pursues and secures revenue from these innovations."
As part of the dismissal, Rembrandt agreed not to seek patent royalties on any products that comply with an industry standard for sending data over cable networks, used for high- speed Internet access.
Comcast is "pleased that the court rejected Rembrandt's claims and imposed appropriate conditions on their dismissal," said Charlie Douglas, a spokesman. "We have maintained that Rembrandt's claims had no merit, and the court affirmed our position."
Company Representatives
A Cisco spokeswoman, Kristin Carvell, had no immediate comment. Officials of Motorola and Time Warner didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Paul Schneck, Rembrandt's chief executive officer, didn't return calls requesting comment.
Shares of Schaumburg-based Motorola rose 1 cent to $9.09 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 11:43 a.m. San Jose, California-based Cisco rose 27 cents to $23.18 in Nasdaq trading. New York-based Time Warner Cable rose 43 cents to $40.06 on the NYSE. Philadelphia-based Comcast fell 11 cents to $14.39 in Nasdaq trading.
The multi-district case is In re: Rembrandt Technologies LP patent litigation, 07-md-1848, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
To see the patents, click: 5,852,631; 5,719,858; 4,937,819; 5,008,903; 5,778,234; 6,131,159; 6,950,444; and 5,710,761.