Plaintiff
8 cases as plaintiff.
I'll research this company before writing the profile.
Let me verify the merger/parent details and the Federal Circuit 2018 case.
Overview. Genband US LLC (commonly "GENBAND," formerly General Bandwidth) was founded in 1999 and was headquartered in Plano, Texas (earlier Frisco, Texas). It was a privately held, venture-backed company that raised roughly $712 million across its life, with investors including Sevin Rosen Funds, Venrock, Oak Investment Partners and Sequoia. Reported size varies by source: PitchBook cites about 1,600 employees as of 2016, while Dealroom lists a 500–1,000 headcount band and $100–500 million revenue. On October 27, 2017, GENBAND completed a "merger of equals" with Sonus Networks, Inc.; each became a wholly owned subsidiary of a new parent renamed Sonus Networks and then Ribbon Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: RBBN). GENBAND's former holders received roughly 50% of the combined company plus a $22.5 million unsecured note. GENBAND US LLC is therefore no longer independent; it is a subsidiary within Ribbon Communications.
Products / operations. GENBAND was an operating telecommunications-equipment and software vendor, not an NPE. It sold IP-based real-time communications products for fixed, mobile and cable service providers and large enterprises — session border controllers, softswitches and integrated softswitches, media gateways, call feature servers, IMS/voice-over-IP network infrastructure, SIP trunking, small-cell/carrier Wi-Fi and network-virtualization offerings, plus the "Kandy" cloud communications platform. It held hundreds of patents, many derived from VoIP and media-gateway technology.
Litigation posture. The tracked record shows a two-way litigant: 2 plaintiff cases and 1 defendant case. This is consistent with an operating company asserting its own product patents against a direct competitor while simultaneously defending against that competitor's counter-suits — not an acquired-portfolio assertion strategy. The core disputes clustered in the plaintiff-friendly Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division (Judge Rodney Gilstrap).
Notable cases. In Genband US LLC v. Metaswitch Networks Ltd. (E.D. Tex., filed January 2014, No. 2:14-cv-33), a jury found Metaswitch infringed seven GENBAND VoIP patents and awarded about $8.17 million; the Federal Circuit later vacated the denial of a permanent injunction (Genband US LLC v. Metaswitch Networks Corp., No. 17-1148, July 10, 2017). Metaswitch's follow-on suit, Metaswitch Networks Ltd. v. Genband US LLC (No. 2:14-cv-744), produced a defense verdict for GENBAND in March 2016; a subsequent appeal, Metaswitch Networks Ltd. v. Genband US LLC, reached the Federal Circuit in 2018. Related trade-secret and antitrust actions followed in Texas state court and the S.D.N.Y.
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Genband US LLC sued Metaswitch Networks Ltd. and Metaswitch Networks Corp. for infringement of seven patents including U.S. 6,885,658. A jury found Metaswitch infringed all asserted claims, including '658 claims 1 and 11, and the claims were valid, awarding $8,168,400; final judgment was entered March 22, 2018.
Genband asserted the '589 Patent, including claim 15, along with six other patents against Metaswitch. A jury found infringement and validity on January 15, 2016, awarding $8,168,400; the court denied a permanent injunction and entered final judgment on March 22, 2018. The case was closed April 10, 2018.
Genband asserted U.S. 7,184,427, one of eight patents in the original complaint and seven at trial, against Metaswitch. A jury found infringement and no invalidity, awarding $8,168,400; after a bench trial and injunction denial, the court entered final judgment of about $8.9 million. Metaswitch appealed.
Patent infringement action brought by Genband US LLC against Metaswitch Networks Corp. in the Eastern District of Texas. The case is listed in the Google Patents litigation record for US 6,772,210 and closed on 2018-04-10; the narrative notes that specific assertion/adjudication of 6,772,210 was not independently confirmed.
Federal Circuit appeal of the district court's denial of a permanent injunction in the Genband v. Metaswitch dispute, involving U.S. 6,885,658. The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded, holding the district court may have applied an unduly strict causal nexus/drive demand standard for irreparable harm.
Federal Circuit appeal from the denial of a permanent injunction in the 2:14-cv-00033 action. The court vacated and remanded for reconsideration of the irreparable harm standard, expressly listing U.S. Patent No. 7,995,589 among the patents found infringed.
Appeal from the district court's September 2016 denial of Genband's permanent injunction. The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded, holding the district court may have applied too stringent a causal nexus standard for irreparable harm.
First Federal Circuit appeal from the Genband/Metaswitch district court case. The Federal Circuit vacated the district court's denial of a permanent injunction and remanded for reconsideration of the irreparable-harm standard.