Tyler, Texas – Alcatel-Lucent USA has lost a patent-infringement
suit against Newegg.com and O.co (formerly Overstock.com), and had one of its
patents invalidated in the process.
The global communications company accused the e-tailers of infringing
three patents covering basic e-commerce functions including error corrections and
product search capabilities.
The defendants successfully argued that the functions are used
by virtually every e-commerce site, and a jury in an Eastern District federal
court here dismissed the suit.
The jury further found that Alcatel-Lucent’s “131 patent,” relating
to text boxes, drop-down menus and similar functionalities, is “anticipated and
obvious” due to prior inventions, and invalidated it.
“Newegg is extremely pleased with [last] Friday’s verdict,”
said Lee Cheng, the company’s general counsel. “As an innovator in the online
retail space, we have always respected the intellectual property rights of
others. However, we will not hesitate to defend ourselves vigorously against
frivolous claims and to do what we believe is necessary to prevent abuses of
patent law and the legal system that stifle innovation and entrepreneurism.”
