nCUBE Files U.S. Patent Infringement Suit Against SeaChange.Business Editors FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 2001 nCUBE Corporation today filed a patent infringement patent infringement n. the manufacture and/or use of an invention or improvement for which someone else owns a patent issued by the government, without obtaining permission of the owner of the patent by contract, license or waiver. suit against SeaChange International  This article or section is written like an .Please help [ rewrite this article] from a neutral point of view. Mark blatant advertising for , using . , Inc. (Nasdaq:SEAC SEAC Student Environmental Action Coalition SEAC Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee SEAC Southeast Archeological Center (National Park Service) SEAC South East Asia Command (Allies WWII) ). nCUBE, the worldwide leader in providing scalable broadband streaming media infrastructure, said in its complaint that SeaChange's video-on-demand (VOD See video-on-demand. VoD - video on demand ) products infringe nCUBE's U.S. Patent Number 5,805,804. nCUBE is seeking a permanent injunction permanent injunction n. a final order of a court that a person or entity refrain from certain activities permanently or take certain actions (usually to correct a nuisance) until completed. to require SeaChange to cease shipment of all infringing products. "The nCUBE VOD technology was developed under `804, which is a core industry patent, that pertains to the fundamentals of VOD," said Michael Pohl, president, nCUBE Corporation. "It is clear that SeaChange's VOD products infringe the `804 Patent. We acquired the ability to protect our intellectual property rights, and in the best interest of our customers, we are moving to protect this claim." The '804 Patent, filed in November 1994, covers fundamental systems and methods for providing multimedia solutions in today's networked environment. Applications are split such that client devices (STBs, PDAs, etc.) can focus on presentation, while backend servers running in a distributed server complex provide access to data, and manage the acquisition of data from numerous sources. The technology covered by the '804 Patent is essential to providing a commercially viable real-time multimedia VOD server that supports storage and playback of real-time audio and video data. nCUBE currently owns the rights to 17 patents dating back to 1988 encompassing numerous aspects essential to VOD systems including patents covering fundamental features of nCUBE's n4 video server, nCUBE's hypercube A parallel processing architecture made up of binary multiples of computers (4, 8, 16, etc.). The computers are interconnected so that data travel is kept to a minimum. For example, in two eight-node cubes, each node in one cube would be connected to the counterpart node in the other. technology which allows it to effectively scale its systems to meet the demands of the VOD market and system software that is necessary to efficiently operate a VOD system. The inventions covered by these patents enable nCUBE to deliver the only scalable infrastructure that is capable of streaming to any platform in any environment including cable, DSL DSL in full Digital Subscriber Line Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary , IP and wireless. Leaders in the deployment and development of the interactive industry -- Enron/Blockbuster, Kingston, Eircom, Telewest, Bertlesmann, Gemstar-TVGuide, Liberate, WorldGate and PowerTV/Prasara -- have chosen nCUBE as their streaming media infrastructure provider. nCUBE servers provide the highest scalability, lowest cost of ownership, largest storage capacity and greatest flexibly in meeting the changing needs of the industry. In September 2000, a Delaware jury issued a verdict in favor of SeaChange in regards to a minor patent infringement. To date, there has been no entry of judgment or final ruling from the court. nCUBE currently has three post-trial motions pending before the court based on its belief that the jury made several errors in reaching its verdict. About nCUBE nCUBE (www.ncube.com) is the worldwide leader in providing scalable broadband streaming media infrastructure. Broadband operators worldwide count on nCUBE for streaming media solutions that include broadband video-on-demand, IP streaming media, and advertising insertion. The company's core product line, the n4 streaming media appliance, scales from 100 megabits per second (unit) megabits per second - (Mbps, Mb/s) Millions of bits per second. A unit of data rate. 1 Mb/s = 1,000,000 bits per second (not 1,048,576). E.g. Ethernet can carry 10 Mbps. to 128 gigabits per second of streaming media from a single system. nCUBE has partnered with leaders in interactive television and content for every major delivery path to the home. They include RealNetworks, Enron/Blockbuster, Bertelsmann, Telewest, Gemstar-TV Guide, Liberate, AT&T and Time Warner. nCUBE is a member of the MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). 4 Standards Committee and one of the first members of the Internet Streaming Media Alliance The Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) was Founded in December 2000, by Apple Computer, Cisco Systems, IBM, Kasenna, Philips, and Sun Microsystems. It is a non-profit corporation whose mission is to accelerate the market adoption of open standards for streaming and . The company is based in Foster City, Calif., with sales and customer support offices worldwide. |
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