Print Page 6/29/2006

California-based Finisar has been awarded $78,920,250 in a patent infringement suit against DirecTV. The suit claimed that DirecTV used a satellite broadcasting system without a licensing arrangement.

The original figure requested in the suit, heard in U.S. District Court Judge Ron Clark’s courtroom at the federal courthouse in Beaumont, TX, was 1.65 billion, a figure that the company claimed represents 3 percent of DirecTV’s total revenue.

DirecTV claims to have been broadcasting 11 years before the system was patented by Finisar.   Print Page