A10 denied stay in Brocade patent case

A San Jose federal court this week denied A10 Networks request to stay a permanent injunction barring the company from selling application delivery controllers that incorporate intellectual property from rival Brocade.

The denial now prohibits A10 from making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing any AX series ADCs that incorporate the Brocade technology, Brocade said in a statement. A10 was initially enjoined from doing so in a Jan. 11 ruling and also forced to pay Brocade $60 million in damages.

[BACKGROUND: Guilty as charged! A10 Networks feels the patent blues]

This is a clear and decisive victory for Brocade covering a broad range of intellectual property theft by A10, Brocade Vice President and General Counsel Tyler Wall said in a statement. We are very pleased with these rulings and we are again appreciative of the Courts careful attention to the evidence and its willingness to enforce intellectual property rights.

A10 said it will appeal the ruling and verdict while continuing to sell A10 ADCs lawfully developed with redesigned code.

The Court explicitly excluded from the order A10 products with redesigned code that A10 has lawfully developed, the company said in a statement.  After the verdict and out of prudence, A10 began lawfully developing redesigned code and will soon begin shipping compliant products. The order has no impact on customers use and possession of, or on A10s ability to support, AX Series units shipped before the order.

In the meantime, Brocade has initiated a trade-in program for A10 AX customers now looking for an alternative ADC after the rulings. The Brocade ADX Migration program is available effective immediately and will end on October 26, 2013. program offers a discount on Brocade ADX product bundles; migration services at no additional cost; and training and certification at no additional cost.

The program is available now and will end on Oct. 26, 2013.

A10 says Brocade is exaggerating the significance of the rulings and the impact on A10 and its customers.

As is typical, our competitors overstate the significance of this ruling, said Robert Cochran, A10 general counsel, in a statement. They also understate our legal rights, including the rights to ship compliant AX Series products.

Jim Duffy has been covering technology for over 25 years, 21 at Network World. He also writes The Cisco Connection blog and can be reached on Twitter @Jim_Duffy.

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