High tech companies located in Oregon and other states appear to be occupied with a constant flow of patent and intellectual property litigation. One case that has lingered for years is a business litigation matter in which networking giant Cisco sued newcomer and hated competitor Arista Networks for allegedly stealing Cisco’s vital intellectual property assets. Cisco alleges that Arista, which has been quite profitable and successful, made its mark on the back of Cisco’s proprietary technology.
Cisco’s claims are credible considering that Arista was formed and is being run by a group of renowned engineers who were a part of the inner circle of creators at Cisco in prior years. Recently, the CEO of Cisco announced that it will settle litigation with Arista for payment to Cisco of $400 million. The news seems to have benefited Arista more than its larger competitor. Arista’s stock went up and its investors were reportedly enthused at the closing of the litigation for an amount that Arista could well afford.
Cisco’s stock remained flat and its investors were reportedly sanguine about the settlement and more interested in Cisco’s plans to keep its technological edge in the networking market in years to come. Arista did take a good chunk of business clients from Cisco due to Arista’s being composed of former Cisco pioneers. It appears that Arista did succeed in developing the basic technology that was Cisco’s, especially in the data center market.
Oregon technology companies are involved in their own business litigation conflicts, including a steady flow of cases dealing with patent invasion and interference with intellectual property. Trade secrets and other allegations of theft of vital information by former employees is a claim in many litigation cases in the state and federal courts here. The great majority of the litigation matters are eventually settled by negotiated resolutions, both here and throughout the nation.