Sprint’s lawsuit against its former cable partner appears to have backfired, and now the carrier will have to pay Comcast $7.5 million for patent infringement. A Delaware jury made the award after considering several claims of patent infringement, awarding less than half the $16.5 million Comcast wanted. Comcast sued Sprint in 2012 after Sprint started the patent dispute with a 2011 lawsuit against Comcast, which has yet to go to trial.
The patent infringement claims singled out Sprint Mobile Integration, a way for enterprises to give employees one phone number for their desktop and mobile phones by extending premise-based PBX to mobile devices. Comcast claimed that its former partner (Sprint) infringed on patents related to call routing. Sprint says it did not infringe on Comcast’s patents and that it plans to appeal.
But Sprint and Comcast will probably meet in court before that appeal. Sprint sued Comcast and three other cable companies in late 2011, claiming that the cable companies were illegally using its technology for the transfer of voice data packets. Less than three months later, Comcast fired back with the lawsuit that led to this week’s jury verdict.
Back in 2006, Sprint partnered with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Advance/Newhouse Communications in an effort to offer consumers “quad play” services — wireless service, wireline voice, Internet service and video. Comcast subsequently started selling Sprint’s wireless service to its cable customers, but dropped Sprint in 2011, deciding to work instead with Verizon Wireless.
When Comcast and Sprint parted ways in 2011, Sprint said the loss of the partnership would probably not have a material impact on its business. Less than one month later, the carrier started the legal war that has now cost it $7.5 million (roughly one-third of last quarter’s net income), plus legal fees.
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