Davis Polk represents various subsidiaries of Comcast Corp. in four patent infringement lawsuits against Sprint Communications Co. LP pending in federal courts across the country. On August 10, 2015, Judge Andrews of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware denied Sprint’s motions for judgment as a matter of law and a new trial that sought to overturn an October 2014 jury verdict finding that Sprint infringed three Comcast patents and awarding $7.5 million in damages. Judge Andrews also granted Comcast an additional $1.69 million in pre-judgment interest as well as post-judgment interest and an on-going royalty to be determined at a later date.

The order comes on the heels of the Court’s August 7, 2015 order granting judgment as a matter of law in Comcast’s favor and overturning a $27.6 million jury verdict that Sprint had obtained in the second trial between the two companies earlier this year. Sprint had accused Comcast of infringing patents related to optical networking technology in a variety of regional networks, and the August 7 order gave Comcast a complete victory, finding non-infringement as to all accused networks on all asserted claims. In the alternative, the Court also granted Comcast’s motion for a new trial, holding that the jury verdict in Sprint’s favor had been the result of Sprint’s “present[ing] an incorrect infringement theory to the jury” so that “allowing the verdict to stand would result in a miscarriage of justice.

Two additional cases remain pending in the District of Kansas and the Eastern District of Philadelphia. Sprint initiated the dispute by asserting patents against Comcast’s telephony services in the District of Kansas, including a number of patents that it had previously asserted successfully against a number of voice-over-IP telephony providers.

The Davis Polk trial teams included partners Matthew B. Lehr and Anthony I. Fenwick, counsel David J. Lisson, and associates Micah G. Block, Vesna Cuk and Alyse Katz. Others who participated in pre- and post-trial proceedings include associates Gareth DeWalt, Brooke Pyo, Edward Fu, Julien du Vergier and Andrew Yaphe. Members of the Davis Polk team are based in the Northern California and New York offices.  

Comcast was also represented at trial by co-counsel from Winston & Strawn and Delaware counsel Connolly & Gallagher.

 

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