In what marked the culmination of close to two years of long and costly litigation, and following a two week trial in Marshall, Texas, a jury determined that Eicon Networks Corporation and Eicon Networks Inc. have not willfully induced infringement of two US Patents owned by Eicon's competitor Brooktrout Technology, Incorporated. In the suit Brooktrout asserted that the use of Eicon's Diva Server digital board products for routing inbound faxes using DID signals infringed Brooktrout's US patents. It should be noted that the Brooktrout patents cover only the United States and have no foreign counterparts.
Eicon believes it has taken and continues to take appropriate steps to avoid inducing others to infringe the Brooktrout patents. The jury largely agreed, awarding Brooktrout damages of $94,500 for non-willful inducement, a nominal amount that represented less than 4% of the $2,405,274 initially sought by Brooktrout in this action.
Eicon maintains that the two asserted Brooktrout patents are invalid but until that issue is finally decided by the courts Eicon will continue to inform purchasers of its Diva Server digital board product line of the existence of the Brooktrout patents and Eicon will continue to refrain from inducing others to violate the Brooktrout patents.
It should be noted that the Diva Server digital board product line does not directly infringe the asserted patents and Eicon plans to continue selling and marketing the Diva Server product line in the United States in connection with a myriad of applications in the fax, voice, data and unified messaging areas which have nothing to do with Brooktrout's patent claims.
It should be noted that Eicon's Diva Server Voice series of products, Diva Server analog products and Diva Server Soft IP products are entirely outside the scope of the Brooktrout patents and are not subject to this suit.
About Eicon Networks
Eicon Networks is a world-leading provider of reliable communication products for networked business applications, secure remote access and virtual private networks. The company's portfolio includes a full range of products for applications in branch office and PC secure connectivity, voice, speech and conferencing, voice over IP, POS and financial clearing networks, unified messaging and fax serving.
Eicon distributes, markets and supports its products in more than 80 countries through a network of channel partners, telecommunication companies (telcos), Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Information about Eicon Networks is available at www.eicon.com.
Eicon, Eicon Networks, Diva and Diva Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Eicon Networks Corporation. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. Eicon encourages all users of its products to procure all necessary intellectual property licenses required to implement their concepts or applications, which licenses may vary from country to country.