Cisco Accuses Arista of Copying Work
Cisco Systems filed a suit on Dec. 5 against Arista Networks, a networking switch company and fast-moving competitor, accusing it of copying large amounts of Cisco’s work, reports The New York Times.
In the suit, the plaintiff claimed Arista violated 14 Cisco patents, some of which were based on work by Andreas Bechtolsheim and David Cheriton, Arista’s founders, when they were at Cisco. The two men, well-respected engineers, sold a company, Granite Systems, to Cisco in 1996.
The case, filed in the Federal District Court in Northern California, will probably go on for at least months, according to The Times‘ report. Cisco’s stated goal is to force Arista to withdraw its crucial products from the market, along with seeking damages.