ARISTA NETWORKS, INC. (NYSE:ANET) Files An 8-K Other EventsItem 8.01 Other Events
On August 4, 2017, the International Trade Commission (the “ITC” or the “Commission”) issued a notice in connection with Investigation No. 337-TA-944 (the “944 Investigation”) stating that it would be reviewing the Administrative Law Judge’s (the “ALJ”) Enforcement Initial Determination (the “EID”) in its entirety and remanding the EID in part for further analysis.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (“Cisco”) initially filed a complaint in the 944 Investigation accusing Arista of infringing six patents (U.S. Patents 7,290,164, 7,340,597, 8,356,296, 6,741,592, 7,200,145 and 7,162,537) relating to five different features of Arista’s Extensible Operating System (“EOS”). For three of the patents (‘164, ‘597 and ‘296), Cisco’s accusations were either dropped or rejected by the ITC. In its Final Determination (“FD”), dated June 23, 2016, the ITC determined that the prior versions of EOS contained two features that infringed three patents (‘592, ‘145 and ‘537) and issued a limited exclusion order and a cease and desist order that prohibited Arista from importing (or selling) infringing products into the United States. Arista released a new version of EOS (4.16 or later) for its products to address the Commission’s findings.
On August 26, 2016, Cisco filed an enforcement action against Arista with the ITC asserting that Arista is violating the cease and desist order in the 944 Investigation. This enforcement action only involves the ‘537 patent. Both parties participated in a hearing for this matter on April 5, 2017. On June 20, 2017, the ALJ issued his EID finding that Arista did not violate the cease and desist order. On July 3, 2017, the parties filed petitions for review of certain findings in the EID. The Commission frequently reviews some or all aspects of ALJ initial determinations in order to better understand the issues presented to it in an investigation. The target date for the FD was originally set for September 20, 2017.
The Commission’s notice remands the investigation to the ALJ. The notice instructs the ALJ to conduct any additional proceedings he deems necessary and then issue a remand enforcement initial determination (“REID”) clarifying certain aspects of the EID set forth in the notice. The notice instructs the ALJ to issue an initial determination by September 4, 2017 setting a new target date for the FD that allows sufficient time for these remand proceedings and three additional months following issuance of the REID for the Commission to review the REID before issuing its FD.
In addition to the ALJ’s initial determination finding that Arista’s redesigned products do not infringe the ‘537 patent, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has found in two separate proceedings that Arista’s redesigned products do not infringe this patent.
About ARISTA NETWORKS, INC. (NYSE:ANET)
Arista Networks, Inc. is a supplier of cloud networking solutions that address the needs of Internet companies, cloud service providers and next-generation data centers for enterprises. The Company’s cloud networking solutions consist of its Extensible Operating System (EOS), which is a set of network applications and its 10/25/40/50/100 Gigabit Ethernet switches. EOS is purpose-built to be programmable and modular. The programmability of EOS allows it to create a set of software applications that address the requirements of cloud networking, including workflow automation, network visibility and analytics, and allows it to integrate with a range of third-party applications for virtualization, management, automation, orchestration and network services. It offers a product line of data center 10/25/40/50/100 Gigabit Ethernet switches comprising its 7050X Series, 7060X Series, 7150 Series, 7260 Series, 7280 leaf switches, 7300X Series Spline switches and its 7500E Series spine switches.
