ITC Issues Split Determination in Arista/Cisco Patent Dispute -- Update

By Josh Beckerman 

Networking products company Arista Networks Inc., which has been in a patent dispute with Cisco Systems Inc., said the International Trade Commission issued a limited exclusion order and cease-and-desist order against it concerning two features.

The ITC ruled in Arista's favor on two other features, finding that they don't infringe Cisco's patents.

In February, an ITC administrative law judge ruled in favor of Arista on two of four features, a ruling that was subject to the final determination announced Thursday.

"Arista respects the commission's decision and intends to fully comply with the orders," the company said.

Arista previously released a version of its software with "design-arounds that it believes address the ITC's findings." The company will seek regulatory approval for these design-arounds.

Cisco said in a blog post that Arista has tried to "evade transparent review of the claimed design around."

Any exclusion order may be blocked by President Barack Obama or overruled by an appeals court.

Cisco, the biggest maker of networking gear, accused Arista of violating its patents and copyrights in December 2014 in federal court as well as at the ITC. Some of the allegations involve the method used to type commands to program Cisco hardware -- known as the command line interface, or CLI -- that is used by Arista and some other competitors.

Arista shares recently fell 5.9% to $69.47, while Cisco dropped 3.3% to $28.25. The stock declines come amid a broader market selloff following Britain's surprise vote to leave the European Union.

Write to Josh Beckerman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 24, 2016 11:37 ET (15:37 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.