Digital Island Claiming Early Victory in Patent Dispute
November 13, 2001 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Digital Island (digitalisland.com), announced yesterday that the United States District Court in Massachusetts has issued key rulings that could pave the way for Digital Island to prevail in its patent dispute with Akamai (akamai.com).
Level 1 PCI DSS Certified Service Provider! DataPipe delivers the best network & support; top tier data centers; New York metro, Silicon Valley, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai. DataPipe - Personal Touch, Global Reach.
The patents cover technologies that Digital Island and Akamai use to provide
Web services for delivering content over the Internet. Both companies are
claiming that the other stole its patented technology.
In its order, the court interpreted several disputed patent terms as Digital
Island had proposed. The company sees these interpretations as enabling
Digital Island to demonstrate that it does not infringe any of Akamai's
patents. The court's interpretations could also pave the way for Digital
Island to show that one of Akamai's patents is invalid because of Digital
Island's earlier inventions, particularly the "Truenames" patent.
"These rulings strike a critical blow to Akamai's case and leave us more
optimistic than ever that we will prevail," said Ruann F. Ernst, chairman
and CEO of Digital Island. "While we regret that Akamai chose to raise these
matters in the courts, we know that we have a strong legal case and the
resolve necessary to prevail."
Yesterday, Akamai released a similar statement prematurely announcing its
victory. Shares of Akamai Technologies surged 15 percent, or 60 cents to
$4.60 in afternoon Nasdaq trading on Monday, following a favorable ruling in
the continuing dispute.
Cable & Wireless Plc, the corporate parent of Digital Island, was up 1 cent
to $14.80 on the New York Stock Exchange.
