Damages in Akamai v Limelight agreed at $51m

A US court has entered its final judgment in a long-running patent infringement dispute between Limelight Networks and Akamai Technologies with the final damages total standing $12 million below the agreed maximum threshold.

According to Limelight, the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts agreed that the final damages total it owes should stand at $51 million.

In February, Akamai agreed to cap its potential damages demand to $63 million.

Akamai had sued Limelight for infringing a patent covering a method of delivering content on a webpage. Following litigation, in 2014 the US Supreme Court held that induced infringement requires a single direct infringer.

In November, WIPR reported that the case was heading back to the Massachusetts court for a final judgment after the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected Limelight’s remaining claims in the dispute.

What remained of the nine-year dispute was Limelight’s appeal against the district court’s interpretation of the terms “tagging” and “optimal” asserted in the disputed patent, US number 6,108,703.

But Judge Richard Linn said the three-judge panel found “no error” with the district court’s claim construction.

Robert Lento, chief executive officer of Limelight, said: “Since August of 2015, we have allocated precious resources to eliminate the possibility of a permanent injunction and address our belief that the ultimate damages payable would be considerably less than the amounts requested in this case.

“The final judgment in this case, which removes the possibility of a permanent injunction, validates our effort and represents an important milestone as it brings this long-standing dispute a step closer to finality.”

Aaron Ahola, deputy general counsel at Akamai, said: “We are extremely pleased after ten years of litigation to have a final judgment entered in Akamai’s favour that recognises Limelight’s infringement and the harm it caused.”