WilmerHale Achieves Significant Win for Akamai Technologies In Multi-Year, Multi-Forum Patent Dispute
- 1.15.2024
On January 3, 2024, WilmerHale secured a significant win for Akamai Technologies, Inc., in a multi-year, multi-forum case against MediaPointe, Inc. The US District Court for the Central District of California granted summary judgment of non-infringement for Akamai on all remaining patent claims. MediaPointe had sought over $50 million in alleged damages against Akamai.
The case began in 2021 in the Western District of Texas, where MediaPointe asserted two patents against Akamai. The two asserted patents were US Patent No. 8,559,426 and U.S. Patent No. 9,426,195, which are generally directed to methods and systems for streaming media content over the internet using a so-called “Intelligent Distribution Network” comprising a “management center” and content delivery “nodes.”
After initial fact discovery, the WilmerHale team identified a flaw in MediaPointe’s alleged chain of title to the asserted patents and demanded that MediaPointe dismiss its claims or face sanctions. MediaPointe then dismissed its claims, but it refused to do so with prejudice, insisting that it did have title to the patents. In response, WilmerHale filed a declaratory judgment complaint in the Central District of California where MediaPointe is headquartered.
The WilmerHale team's first major win for Akamai on the merits came at the claim construction stage, where it prevailed in arguing that 17 out of 24 asserted patent claims were invalid as indefinite.
Later, in October 2023, WilmerHale moved for summary judgment of non-infringement of the remaining asserted patent claims and to strike MediaPointe’s untimely new infringement theory based on Akamai’s internet mapping system known as “Mapper.” The court granted both of Akamai’s motions on January 3, 2024. Based on those rulings, the court entered final judgment in favor of Akamai.
The WilmerHale team included Michael Summersgill, Grant Rowan, Jordan Hirsch, Arthur Coviello, Todd Zubler, Jonathan Knight, Brian Lambson, Alicia Coneys, Kelly Todd, James Bor-Zale, Asher McGuffin, Matt Hoff and Kelly Davidson.
