Viasat Wins Intellectual Property Suit Against Acacia Communications
Viasat Awarded $49.3 Million for Acacia’s Misuse of Viasat Technology CARLSBAD, Calif., July 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT), a global communications company, today announced a jury in the Superior Court for San Diego County found that Acacia Communications violated intellectual property law by misusing Viasat’s proprietary technology. Viasat was awarded $49.3 million in damages stemming from Acacia’s breach of contract and unauthorized use of Viasat’s soft decision forward error correction (SDFEC) technology, which Acacia used in the development of its Sky, Denali and Meru products.
Viasat licensed its SDFEC technology to Acacia a decade ago in an agreement that required Acacia to pay royalties for its use of any of Viasat’s encoding and decoding methods. Acacia paid royalties on the first generation of its products using Viasat’s SDFEC technology, but stopped paying for subsequent generations. During the trial, Viasat presented evidence that Acacia copied its SDFEC technology to create derivative, backwards-compatible products.
“We appreciate that the jury, in their review of the evidence, took corrective actions to ensure that the technology we invested years to develop will continue to be protected,” said Rick Baldridge, Viasat president and COO. “Our SDFEC technology is the gold standard in the industry as evidenced by Acacia’s use of our code in new generations of their product, and protecting our intellectual property and innovation is vital to us. The decision confirms Acacia’s improper infringement of our valuable intellectual property rights.”
Viasat expects to seek additional royalty damages under the breach of contract, as well as attorney’s fees, including cost of proof sanctions. Such requests will be decided by the Court in subsequent proceedings. Acacia has the option to appeal the decision.
Viasat was represented in the matter by Kenneth M. Fitzgerald and Joseph L. McGeady of Fitzgerald Knaier LLP in San Diego, Matthew S. Warren and Patrick M. Shields of Warren Lex LLP in San Francisco and by in-house counsel Colin Ward.
About Viasat
Viasat is a global communications company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be connected. For more than 30 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world communicate. Today, the Company is developing the ultimate global communications network to power high-quality, secure, affordable, fast connections to impact people’s lives anywhere they are—on the ground, in the air or at sea. To learn more about Viasat, visit: www.viasat.com, go to Viasat’s Corporate Blog, or follow the Company on social media at: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements include statements about timing, receipt, and amount of any award in the Company’s lawsuit with Acacia. Readers are cautioned that actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: the ability to predict the results of complex proceedings; and the expense, time and potential disruption of litigation. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in Viasat’s SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including Viasat’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. Viasat undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason.
Copyright © 2019 Viasat, Inc. All rights reserved. Viasat is a registered trademark of Viasat, Inc. The Viasat logo is a trademark of Viasat, Inc. All other product or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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SOURCE Viasat, Inc.
Viasat, Inc. contacts: Chris Phillips, Corporate Communications and Public Relations, +1-760-476-2322, chris.phillips@viasat.com; June Harrison, Investor Relations, +1-760-476-2633, IR@viasat.com; Fitzgerald Knaier LLP contact: Jamie Moss, newsPRos, +1 201-493-1027, jamie@newspros.com
