Cisco, Centripetal Get Backing in $1.9B Patent Verdict Appeal

Big tech threw its weight behind Cisco Systems Inc.‘s bid to shake a $1.9 billion patent infringement verdict, while the patent holder won the support of two groups representing small inventors.

The fight comes in an appeal of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia’s ruling that Cisco willfully infringed four Centripetal Networks Inc. cybersecurity patents.

The High Tech Inventors Alliance—a consortium that includes Cisco along with Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Samsung, and others—told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in an amicus brief that such large enhanced damages awards ...