Court invalidates Verizon's patent counterclaims against ActiveVideo, Cablevision

A federal court in Virginia has invalidated patent counterclaims filed by Verizon (NYSE: VZ) in ongoing litigation between ActiveVideo and its key customer Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC), apparently giving ActiveVideo an upper hand in patent infringement litigation it has filed against Verizon and FiOS.

ActiveVideo initially filed suit against Verizon for patent infringement on technology that it said is "core" to its video-on-demand and interactive TV services, claiming that Verizon was using it illegally for FiOS. Verizon responded with a counterclaim against ActiveVideo and Cablevision, federal Judge Raymond Jackson has now invalidated.

"The court's construction essentially tracked ActiveVideo's proposals and provides powerful support for our infringement case against Verizon," said Jeff Miller, president-CEO of ActiveVideo in a news release.

ActiveVideo maintains that it shared its technology with Verizon starting in 2005 but "Verizon declined to do business with us and instead has infringed on our patents," he said. A trial on that portion of the litigation is scheduled for July 12 at which time "we are confident that we will recover not only damages for Verizon's infringement but also enjoin Verizon from using ActiveVideo's patented technology," Miller said.

A Verizon spokesman, apprised of the story by FierceCable , had no comment as of deadline.

For more:
- see this news release

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ActiveVideo sues Verizon over interactive TV patents