Dallas-area company Correct Transmission will try to persuade a federal East Texas jury that Finland-based tech giant Nokia infringed five of its patents during a trial set to begin Wednesday in Marshall.
Correct Transmission said in its 2022 lawsuit that Nokia service routers and ethernet switches misuse its technology to bolster its own offerings. Correct Transmission is seeking unspecified monetary damages and an ongoing royalty.
The patents were previously owned by Israeli company Orckit-Corrigent, which went bankrupt in 2015.
Many of the case filings are under seal to protect intellectual property, but an order issued by Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne on motions in limine shows that the plaintiff was concerned Nokia would draw a connection to Israel. Payne’s order was adopted by Chief U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap who will preside over the trial.
The order prohibits “suggestions that ‘Israelis’ are directing the litigation, will profit from the litigation or that a verdict in favor will assist Israel or ‘Israelis’ or otherwise support” Israel’s war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Correct Transmission will have to make its case without talking about certain other litigation Nokia has been involved in, including a settlement with research and development company Cheetah Omni, which has numerous patents in the field of optics, and international litigation against Israel-based Mala Technologies.
Correct Transmission also filed lawsuits against Adtran Inc. and Juniper Networks on the same day, July 23, 2020, over the same patents.
The Nokia lawsuit was filed Sept. 2, 2022. In January, Nokia filed a sealed motion for summary judgment asking the court to hold it hadn’t willfully infringed the patents, but the judge denied the motion in March.
The patents at issue are U.S. Patent Nos: 6,876,669; 7,127,523; 7,283,465; 7,768,928; and 7,983,150.
Correct Transmission is represented by Gregory Dovel of Dovel & Luner, Jeff Eichmann of Eichmann and James Travis Underwood of Gillam & Smith.
Nokia is represented by Michael Clayton Deane, John D. Haynes, Caleb J. Bean and Nicholas Tang Tsui of Alston & Bird, Michael Charles Smith of Scheef & Stone and Deron R. Dacus of The Dacus Firm.
The case is 2:22-cv-00343.