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Dallas Business Journal:

Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc., the American unit of a French maker of telecom equipment, has brought a large intellectual property suit, alleging that a number of large companies in the Internet sales and retail sector have infringed on as many as a half-dozen of its patents relating to e-commerce and search engine technology.

With around 1,830 employees in North Texas, Alcatel-Lucent is seeking a court order barring eight companies from infringing on the patents in question and forcing those companies to destroy all of their products that allegedly infringe in the patents. It is also seeking unspecified damages in the litigation, filed in late September in federal district court in Tyler.

"Alcatel-Lucent views its intellectual property as a vital asset, and we will continue to preserve and defend this asset," said Mary Ward, a company spokeswoman, in a statement e-mailed to the Dallas Business Journal.

Some lawyers not affiliated with the Alcatel-Lucent litigation say it has the potential to be a significant case.

"On the face of it, it's a substantial plaintiff with good lawyers," said Richard Sayles, a senior partner at Sayles Werbner P.C. in Dallas. "They have taken on some substantial defendants who will have the ability to defend themselves. You must think through that before you start this process. If you assume they've done their homework, the conclusion you'd draw is this is a substantial piece of litigation."

Officials of all but one of the defendants either couldn't be reached or declined to comment.

Dallas Business Journal

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Griffin said the cost of defending patent suits often prompts settlements.

Ward said filing this lawsuit was not Alcatel-Lucent's preferred course of action.

"We prefer to license our intellectual property rather than resort to a lawsuit," she said.

http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2009/10/19/story10.html

© 2009 American City Business Journals, Inc.