Broadcom files patent infringement suit against Emulex

Alleges that Emulex infringes on patents related to data and storage networking technologies

Broadcom said that it has commenced litigation against Emulex for infringement of its patents related to networking and communications technologies.

The company said that it is seeking both monetary damages and injunctive relief to stop Emulex's continued infringement.

David Rosmann, vice president for intellectual property litigation at Broadcom, said: As we developed our plans for the Fibre Channel over Ethernet market, we discovered that Emulex is infringing multiple Broadcom patents in an effort to use Broadcom technology to compete against both our existing and future products.”

In a complaint filed with the US District Court for the Central District of California, Broadcom alleged that Emulex infringes on 10 of its patents, that cover a range of high speed data and storage networking technologies.

According to Broadcom, the infringed patents cover a range of technologies including integrated circuit design, serializer/deserializer (SerDes), TCP offload engine (TOE), remote direct memory access (RDMA), Fibre Channel, and Fibre Channel over Ethernet technologies.

Mr Rosmann added: “We believe Emulex is infringing a broad range of Broadcom patents; we are concerned that Emulex's infringement is pervasive.

Emulex issued a statement saying that it is reviewing the patents associated with the complaint filed by Broadcom. It stated: “Emulex has a policy of vigorously defending the company against assertions of this kind.”

Earlier this year, Broadcom has made a takeover bid for Emulex, offering $764m or $9.25 per share, which Emulex has rejected and also sent a letter to its stockholders urging them not to accept the tender offer.

Later, Broadcom has raised its cash tender offer for Emulex to $912m or $11 per share, which Emulex's board has unanimously rejected stating that the offer undervalued its long-term prospects, is inadequate, and is not in the best interests of Emulex and its stockholders. Finally, Broadcom has withdrawn the buyout offer in July.

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