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Appeals Court Voids Massive Cybersecurity Patent Award
12 Mar
Summary
- A US appeals court overturned a $481 million ruling favoring Columbia University.
- The court questioned the validity of Columbia's cybersecurity patents.
- A prior contempt finding against Gen Digital's law firm was also reversed.
A U.S. appeals court has overturned a substantial $481 million ruling that favored Columbia University in its patent infringement case against Gen Digital. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals indicated that Columbia's cybersecurity patents may be invalid, sending the case back to Virginia federal court for re-evaluation.
The original lawsuit, filed in 2013, alleged that Gen Digital's security products infringed on six of Columbia's patents related to intrusion-detection systems. A jury initially found infringement on two patents, leading to an $185 million award in 2022, which was later increased to over $481 million by a judge in 2023.
Furthermore, the appeals court reversed a lower court's decision that had held Gen Digital's former law firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, in contempt. This contempt finding stemmed from alleged litigation misconduct concerning communications with a former employee. The appellate court ruled that these communications were protected by attorney-client privilege and should not have been subject to disclosure.
