Update: 11/13/2014 - 6:16PM
$188 million reasons why a Cisco customer needs a patent and copyright infringement indemnity agreement with Cisco
Update: 11/8/2014 - 4:04PM
A reader brought to my attention that exactly 2-years ago, Cisco's Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer - Mark Chandler, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal:
Cisco Calls Patent Trolls Racketeers
"When someone runs a racket, we're going to make them liable for racketeering... They're well aware that these people don't owe them any money... This is nothing other than a shakedown."
I mean, it certainly appears that Cisco itself has now joined a "patent troll extortion racket," (at least according to Cisco's General Counsel Mark Chandler in his above WSJ quotes).
The "hypocrisy" of Cisco is absolutely stunning!
Earlier this week, Cisco funded patent troll Finjan Holdings sued Palo Alto Networks, alleging infringement of Finjan patents by the following Palo Alto products:
Read the entire 70-page complaint for patent infringement
Also this week, Cisco filed a Form 13F-HR with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealing it currently owns 1,688,429 shares (7.5% of the outstanding shares, page 25 of an SEC Schedule 14A filing) of the patent troll, Finjan Holdings, Inc.
So why am I referring to the Cisco funded Finjan as a patent troll?
Because that's how Matt Miller, the former Editor-at-Large of The Deal described Finjan in the below video:
"A patent troll forages through a compost heap..."
On page 69 of the Finjan lawsuit, it seeks no less than $60 million from Palo Alto, along with treble damages, court and attorney costs.
I mean, it certainly appears because Cisco can no longer innovate, it now has to fund patent trolls like Finjan to sue those competitors that can innovate.
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$188 million reasons why a Cisco customer needs a patent and copyright infringement indemnity agreement with Cisco