Akamai Wins CDN Patent Ruling

Content delivery network operator Akamai Technologies announced on Friday that a jury has awarded it $45.5 million after judgment for it in a patent breach case against competitor content delivery network operator Limelight Networks. Akamai says the verdict, from a jury in the US District Court of Massachusetts, came at the conclusion of a three-week trial in Boston that started from a case it filed in 2006.

During the trial, Akamai requested the court to issue a permanent injunction barring Limelight from continuing to sell what it determined were “infringing services” after the jury discarded Limelight’s argument that the Akamai patent was invalid.

The jury found that Limelight had certainly infringed four patent claims related to content delivery Akamai had asserted for, which were issued in the name of Akamai founders Tom Leighton and Danny Lewi.

According to reports, Limelight shares went down $2.00 or 31 percent at $4.36 after the news while Akamai’s stock went up $2.41 or seven percent at $35.89.