Ring up another win for ActiveVideo in its fight with Verizon (NYSE: VZ), which a federal judge had ordered to stop using two of the company's patents, and to pay it millions in royalties.
On Monday, a U.S. District Court judge denied Verizon motion to stay monthly royalty payments imposed by a Nov. 23 court injunction and directed Verizon to make the first monthly payment by Friday; the payment, of $2.74 per FiOS TV subscriber, will cost Verizon about $11 million a month.
Verizon has been found liable for up to $250 million in damages, supplemental damages, interest and royalties for its infringement of ActiveVideo intellectual property in four judgments.
The court also has ordered Verizon to terminate FiOS Video-on-Demand service on May 23, 2012, if it cannot offer the service without unlawfully using ActiveVideo technology.
Verizon last month said it was working with Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) to change the way its video-on-demand service works, looking to put an end to its court battles with ActiveVideo. If Verizon doesn't come up with a solution, it may have to temporarily turn off its VOD service.
Judge Raymond A. Jackson, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, said staying the royalty portion of the injunction "would merely provide Verizon the freedom to continue to infringe without any recourse to the prevailing plaintiff."
ActiveVideo CEO Jeff Miller said he was "mystified by Verizon's insistence on litigating this matter" and vowed to see the case through to the end.
"I want to make it clear that we will do everything necessary to continue to prevail in this case, should Verizon continue in its ongoing act of piracy," he said. "We will not hesitate to demand that FiOS VOD, widgets and any other infringing services be terminated on May 23 if our rights remain violated."
ActiveVideo filed suit against Verizon in May, 2010, alleging that the Verizon FiOS television service infringed four patents for technology created, owned and used by ActiveVideo.
A district court jury found in favor of ActiveVideo. Verizon has appealed.
For more:
- see this release
- see this MCN article
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