Protecting Innovation: Update on ITC Investigations

When we launched our District Court and International Trade Commission (ITC) actions in 2014, we promised to provide ongoing updates on their progress.

On February 2, Judge Shaw issued a ruling in the first ITC case (‘944) that Arista had violated three of five Cisco patents. Despite a large number of redactions, the reasons for the judge’s decisions are clear in the remedies or recommended determination document and the initial determination document. To aid transparency, Cisco asked for just six lines to be redacted from the nearly 300 page document. Both Cisco and Arista asked that the full Commission review the determination.

Today the Commission determined to undertake the review. You can read the public version of their determination here. Time for the review was included in our previously-communicated timelines, so we do not expect any change of schedule. We welcome this additional review by the full Commission, and believe it is an important step in the comprehensive investigation and review of evidence by the ITC.

The second ITC case (‘945) is still ongoing and was recently extended due to resource challenges at the ITC. We appreciate the work of Judge McNamara and her staff under extenuating circumstances. The extension is not a comment on the facts in the investigation, which we believe will show further infringement of Cisco technology by Arista.

Arista must still face two District Court juries in the “Networking Features” and “Operating System and Interface Features” cases. The first case has been stayed pending the outcome of the ITC investigations. The trial for the second case is scheduled to begin on November 28, 2016.

Edited to correct date for opening arguments in second District Court trial