Update (6/01/2017): We disagree with the Patent Office decision regarding the ‘668 patent, particularly since the ITC rejected Arista’s validity challenges and found the patent both valid and infringed. We intend to appeal the Patent Office’s decision, which will be the final determination regarding validity of the ‘668 patent. The Patent Office’s decision here has no impact on the other patents Cisco has asserted in its District Court case.
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Cisco is pleased that the U.S. Patent and Trade Office (U.S. PTO) upheld the validity of our ‘537 patent, which covers Cisco’s proprietary SysDB technology. ITC enforcement proceedings addressing Arista’s continued infringement on this patent are underway. These enforcement proceedings are a key step in determining whether Arista’s redesigned products continue to use IP copied from Cisco.
We are disappointed in this U.S. PTO decision surrounding the ‘577 patent, which had been authored by Arista founders Andy Bechtolsheim and David Cheriton when they were Cisco executives. The decision does not directly impact the ITC ‘945 proceedings, where infringement was found and the ITC refused to allow Arista to seek to invalidate patents that its own employees had created, and which creates a ground for appeal, as well, of the U.S. PTO decision on that patent. For that infringement, a bond is currently required for import or sale of Arista’s infringing products, and an import ban and cease and desist order are expected to go into effect beginning July 4.
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