UPDATED: Nortel (Quote) said it has agreed to drop its copyright and
trade-secret lawsuit against Arbinet-thExchange.
The network equipment giant did not disclosed the terms. However, an Arbinet
regulatory filing said the suit was settled for $850,000.
In July, Nortel claimed that Arbinet infringed copyright and misappropriated
trade secrets by using its proprietary software without authorization.
It also claimed Arbinet exceeded the permitted usage level under its license
and failed to meet contractual obligations concerning the purchase of
switching systems.
Arbinet, in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said
Nortel's original complaint sought $6 million in damages plus certain
software fees.
"[Nortel] has invested billions of dollars in research and development
activities, including the development of proprietary software," the company
said in a statement. "Nortel is committed to protecting its investment from
unauthorized exploitation."
Christina Warren, a Nortel spokeswoman, said Arbinet is no longer a Nortel
customer.
Based in New Brunswick, N.J., Arbinet is an electronic market for trading,
routing and settling communications capacity between carriers.
In other Nortel news, the company received an order of VoIP equipment from
Cable Onda, a cable service provider in Panama. Financial terms were not
disclosed.
Specifically, the deal involves Nortel Communication Server 2000 - Compact.
The equipment enables cable operators to deliver voice and data
traffic on a packetized network.
Also included in this deployment will be Nortel Packet Voice Gateway
to help switch voice calls more cost-effectively.
In 2003 and the first half of 2004, Nortel ranked first in the global
markets for carrier packet voice and softswitch revenue, according to
Synergy Research Group. Its customers include Charter Communications,
Cox Communications, VTR ( Chile), TeleCable (Spain), Telenet (Belgium) and
Kable BW (Germany).
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