Hostilities between the companies date from 2002, when Ciena
acquired optics equipment maker ONI Systems Corp. Nortel Networks
had sued that company in March 2000, alleging patent infringement
and misappropriation of trade secrets.
That case settled in January 2003, with Nortel Networks granting
Ciena a license to certain patents, and Ciena making a one-time
payment of $25 million to its rival.
As part of the settlement, Nortel Networks agreed to dismiss
without prejudice another patent infringement claim against Ciena
in November 2002. Both companies also agreed not to sue each other
for patent infringement for two years, during which time they would
seek to negotiate a cross-licensing arrangement.
The two-year period is now up and it seems that negotiations
have failed. Ciena filed its lawsuit in the US District Court for
the Eastern District of Texas yesterday.
Ciena alleges that Nortel Networks has infringed six patents
relating to communications networking technology. It wants a jury
trial, an injunction and unspecified damages.
Nortel Networks Corporation has not commented.
