Xtera sues Nokia’s Alcatel Submarine Networks for patent infringement

Sub-sea telecom infrastructure provider Xtera announced last month that it took legal actions against Alcatel Submarine Networks, a company fully owned by Nokia Corporation. Xtera alleges that Submarine Networks infringe on five of their patents in the field of subsea telecommunications systems. Parts of the official press release from Xtera (via Business Wire) follow down below.

Xtera believes that Nokia and NEC market and sell products that incorporate patent-protected technologies developed by Xtera without license to do so. These products include submarine line terminal equipment and components that are needed to transport optical signals across the ocean.

Xtera has asked the ITC to issue a permanent, limited exclusion order that would prevent entry into the U.S. of products that infringe on Xtera’s patents. The company also seeks a permanent cease and desist order that prohibits Nokia and NEC from importing, selling, distributing, marketing and/or advertising, and transferring any products within the U.S. that infringe on Xtera’s asserted U.S. patents.

For quite some time, Nokia has been preparing the sales of Alcatel Submarine Networks, but selling this unit of the company is a little complicated, because Alcatel Submarine Networks have been declared as a strategic company in France. The latest report about AS Networks come from France’s boursier.com, that reports that Nokia is negotiating with a few Companies about selling the sub-sea cable division. The price of Alcatel Submarine Network could be as high as €800 million, but Nokia will not sell this division at any cost, according to Thierry Boisnon, president of Nokia France.