OpenTV, Nagra Sue Verizon

The Kudelski Group said its OpenTV and Nagra France SAS subsidiaries have filed a patent infringement suit against Verizon Communications and its AOL division over claims that they are infringing on a batch of U.S. patents tied to streaming video services.

The suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleges that Verizon and AOL are infringe seven patents owned by OpenTV and Nagra France, and identify a range of products and services, including FiOS TV and its authenticated TV Everywhere services, Redbox Instant by Verizon  (an SVOD service that was shut down in October 2014), Go90, Verizon’s new mobile-first OTT video offering, AOL’s Spot On advertising and streaming video services. Verizon closed its acquisition of AOL on June 23, 2015. 

Update: Verizon said it does not comment on pending litigation. 

Kudelski took control of OpenTV, a company that also specializes in set-top middleware and applications, in late 2009, but sold OpenTV’s advanced advertising business unit to Imagine Communications about a year ago.

The Kudelski Group, headquartered in Switzerland, said it currently holds over 4,500 issued and pending patents worldwide.