pointed out some time ago that Cisco Systems will face a huge amount of compensation of up to US$3.2 billion for infringing on Centipetal Networks' network security patents, which will refresh the record for the highest amount of compensation in the history of US patents. Z1z
, once known as one of the three mountains that cannot be crossed in the communications industry, once monopolized 70% of China's market share at its peak. Why is it now in such a predicament? What is going on?
was founded by a teacher’s couple and became a globally recognized Internet leader
. In 1984, a teacher couple founded Cisco Systems in the United States. Both husband and wife were geniuses in the computer science department. Together, they designed a router and successfully transformed the campus Compatible networks are integrated to build a unified network, which also officially opened the era of the Internet.
In 1996, Chambers served as the chairman of Cisco. Under his leadership, Cisco ushered in a glorious era of enterprise. At that time, all parts of the Internet were controlled by Cisco. With the continuous expansion of the Internet market, Cisco has become one of the fastest-growing companies in the world, and it has a glorious moment.
Until today, Cisco is still one of the largest network equipment suppliers in the world. According to data, in 2019, Cisco ranked 225th on the list of the world's top 500 companies; in 2020, China ranked 15th among the top 100 global brand value companies.
steals the technology of small companies to obtain high profits, will face the highest fine in history
, as the leader of Internet equipment, has recently been entangled in lawsuits. According to the court's judgment, Cisco had to pay Centipetal Networks US$3.2 billion for patent infringement.
Many people are not familiar with Centipetal. Compared with Cisco, he can be said to be a small company, mainly engaged in network information security related business. Although the company is not large, its technology has reached the leading level in the industry. It is understood that Centipetal's network security technology can help customers block up to 90% of network threats.
and Cisco's fine this time is related to the cooperation he did not negotiate with Centipetal a few years ago. At that time, Cisco wanted to cooperate with Centipetal. For the sake of Cisco's sincerity, Centipetal revealed a lot of product information. But in the end, this cooperation was not reached. In Centipetal's words, he and Cisco "almost got married but were ruthlessly abandoned." What made Centipetal even more annoyed by
is that not long after the termination of the cooperation, Cisco launched a product with their functions and similar features, and this product also brought huge benefits to Cisco. After discovering this matter, Centipetal immediately filed a lawsuit in the court.
Although Cisco is wealthy, it will not escape legal sanctions. The court ruled that because Cisco’s “intentional and excessive” infringement has seriously disrupted the market, it needs to compensate Centipetal with US$3.2 billion, and this figure has successfully broken the history of US patent fines. History.
Cisco appealed again for its own grievances, an investigation pointed out that Cisco infringement is a "repeat criminal"
For such a result, Cisco is obviously not satisfied. "I am very disappointed with the court's ruling." The relevant person in charge of Cisco said in an interview, "We have accumulated so many years of technology and have enough innovative technologies. Our technology is even earlier than patented inventions." He said , They will continue to appeal to protect their legal rights.
In fact, this is not the first time Cisco has fallen into a patent dispute. In the early years, Cisco had similar disputes with many Internet companies.
And in July this year, Huawei also filed a lawsuit against Cisco for infringement. The reason is that a certain Cisco product was found to use Huawei code, but he did not pay Huawei any fees. Cisco also has its own explanation. He said that he only used Huawei's code when testing the product, but he forgot to delete it in the end.
Obviously, this statement is not convincing. Because of the solid evidence, Cisco has been in an extremely passive position in the lawsuit with Huawei.
Concluding remarksToday, with increasing market competition pressure, more and more companies want to use innovative products to stand out. However, innovation must also adopt proper methods. If only blindly plagiarizing other people's ideas, companies will face great difficulties sooner or later.
Do you think that the similarities between Cisco and Centipetal are intentional? Or is it just a coincidence?
