SeaChange, nCUBE Head for Trial
By JIM FORKAN -- Multichannel News, 8/7/2000
SeaChange International Inc. and nCUBE Corp.will take their patent-infringement battle to the courtroom in September.
SeaChange filed a patent-infringement action in mid-June in Delaware District Court, charging that nCUBE had infringed on its "MediaCluster" patent, which SeaChange described as "the foundation for a number of SeaChange digital-video-server systems."
During a July 27 hearing, the Delaware court offered the parties two options. One was to await a ruling, which could take several months. The second was to agree to a very early jury trial on all issues in the case.
The court ultimately set a Sept. 18 jury date.
Both companies expressed confidence in the facts of their respective positions.
A SeaChange spokesman said SeaChange filed for the Media-Cluster patent in 1995 and began deploying that equipment in 1997. The patent came through last year.
SeaChange had sought a preliminary injunction to immediately halt nCUBE's distribution and development of "Media-Cube4." The company said last week that the accelerated trial schedule rendered that motion unnecessary.
SeaChange also said, "Attempts to otherwise explore the matter" with nCUBE had failed.
Meanwhile, nCUBE said it was pleased that no injunction was issued and by the expedited trial date.
