Financial Post
The legal battle between Waterloo, Ont.-based Pixstream Inc. and Unique Broadband Systems Inc. has been settled, a
source close to the deal indicated yesterday.
Some details remain to be resolved, but a deal in principle has been reached in the $500-million lawsuit, the source said. It
is expected to be finalized today.
Jacqueline Murphy, a spokeswoman for Pixstream, said a major announcement will be made today, but refused to give
details. Pixstream, a privately held company, is not under the same securities restrictions as UBS, which is publically traded.
Jeff Friedman, UBS's general counsel, cited securities restrictions and refused to comment on whether a deal had been
reached.
Pixstream was acquired by telecommunications giant Cisco Systems Inc. in August for $540-million. The UBS lawsuit was
filed the following month.
UBS's lawsuit alleged that in 1996, Pixstream's founders were asked to consult on a project to develop an MPEG-II
encoding system for video distribution. The project never reached fruition, but Pixstream raised money through venture
capitalists and launched a similar technology within six months of the dissolution of the deal.
In the following three years, Pixstream developed an Internet technology that allows for the distribution of high-quality video
over the Web. The lawsuit alleged the technology is based on its work with UBS.
rthompson@nationalpost.com
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