Cisco accused of acting 'like a patent troll'
Arista Networks slams networking giant on conference call
Arista Networks has accused rival Cisco of "behaving very much like a patent troll" as it speaks out about the duo's legal dispute.
Last year, Cisco filed two lawsuits against Arista for alleged patent infringement and alleged copyright infringement. The cases are ongoing are will not conclude for about another 18 months.
On an earnings call last night, top Arista executives responded to questions about the cases' timetable and lashed out against its rival.
Arista's chief executive Jayshree Ullal was the first to stick the knife into Cisco.
"Despite all the overheated rhetoric we've been hearing from Cisco blogs about Arista's brazen copying, the only thing brazen about this case is the extreme length Cisco has gone to, right?" she said. "Our customers have shown unwavering support."
Arista's general counsel Marc Taxay joined in and said: "Ironically, one of the things we find interesting about this case is, that it appears to us anyway, that Cisco is behaving very much like a patent troll, which is pretty much what they've spent the last decade condemning."
A patent troll is the name informally given to companies which derive revenue from patent-licensing activities.
Taxay added: "They [Cisco] are choosing to assert patents against widely implemented, industry-standard feature functionality that exists in all network switches today and [are] twisting the language [of some patents] to cover things the patents were never intended to cover. We find this an ironic strategy."
In a statement, Cisco said:
"Arista is clearly confused. We are talking about 12 cutting-edge technologies developed at Cisco, patented by Cisco, built into our products, and being used today by our customers to meet their most pressing networking challenges. Our goal is simply to stop Arista from using intellectual property designed and owned by Cisco. We have every right to protect our investments and innovations from brazen copying."