Akamai wins ruling on patent infringement
Akamai Technologies Inc. of Cambridge, the leading Internet content delivery company, has won a patent-infringement lawsuit against its chief rival, Limelight Networks Inc. of Tempe, Ariz.
A jury in US District Court in Boston yesterday found that Limelight violated a key Akamai patent and concluded that Limelight should pay Akamai $45.5 million in damages.
It's a major victory for Akamai, which runs a network of computers that collect and redistribute Internet data for major organizations like Yahoo Inc., the MySpace social network, and the Pentagon. It's also good news for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which owns the patent and licenses it to Akamai. But the ruling is a blow to Limelight, an Akamai competitor that serves big-name clients like Microsoft Corp. and the Facebook social network.
"This recognizes the strength of our patent portfolio," said Akamai spokesman Jeff Young. He added that Akamai now plans to seek a permanent injunction barring Limelight from any further violations of the patent. "We're focused on protecting the unique aspects of our intellectual property," said Young. He also said such an injunction would affect the media delivery and object delivery services at the heart of Limelight's business.
Limelight shares fell $1.69 or 26.5 percent on news of the verdict, to close at $4.68.
Akamai and MIT sued Limelight in June 2006 and asked that a jury decide whether Limelight had violated two MIT patents licensed to Akamai. Last month, US District Judge Rya W. Zobel issued a summary judgment that Limelight had not violated one of the two patents. But the remaining patent was one that Akamai had successfully defended in a lawsuit against Cable & Wireless PLC. Akamai convinced the jury that Limelight had violated this patent.
"We're disappointed at the outcome," Michael Gordon, Limelight's cofounder and chief strategic officer, said. "We believe Limelight will ultimately prevail."
Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com. 