Akamai and Cable and Wireless have settled their patent dispute, which has pushed the two in and out of court for the last four years.

A jury found in Akamai's favour back in December 2001 C&W subsidiary Digital Island was guilty of infringing patents. Akamai and C&W today agreed the amount of damages to be paid, including a cash sum to Akamai. The case centred on C&W's internet content system, Footprint.

Melanie Haratunian, vice president and general counsel for Akamai, said: "We are very pleased by the resolution of this long-standing dispute, because it reaffirms the value of Akamai's intellectual property and sends a strong message that we can and will successfully defend our business....While we prefer to demonstrate the superiority of our technology in the marketplace, rather than the courtroom, we will continue aggressively to enforce our intellectual property rights when necessary to protect shareholder value."

More here.

In a related development the Federal District Court in Boston has granted a motion brought by Akamai to overturn the jury verdict as it related to 703 patent claims 17, 18 and 22. These claims, covering aspects of Akamai's content delivery, are not now invalid. ®

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