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Technology Stocks : General Instrument Corp.'98 (GIC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Yogi - Paul who wrote (263)	4/30/1998 10:05:00 AM
From: Don Dorsey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 615

BroadBand Tech settles GI patent dispute RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., April 29 (Reuters) - Two leading suppliers of advanced broadband equipment that delivers voice, video and data at high speeds over telephone lines said late Wednesday they had agreed to end their patent litigation. As part of the settlement, BroadBand Technologies Inc., (BBTK - news) and Next Level Communications L.P., together with its parent, General Instrument Corp. (GIC - news), said they have agreeed to cross-license their broadband technology patents. As part of the deal, Next Level will pay BroadBand $5 million and BroadBand and Next Level will enter into a perpetual cross-license of patents applied for or issued now or during the next five years, the companies said in a statement. General Instrument also will grant BroadBand a covenant not to sue on all General Instrument patents applied for or issued currently or during the next five years, they said. General Instruments became a pure-play cable and satellite TV equipment maker earlier this year after it spun off its telephone operations into Next Level Communications, a partnership in which it retains an 80 percent stake. In addition, BroadBand and Next Level have agreed to work together on technical and regulatory issues to advance the development of the broadband access communications market. In March 1997, BroadBand filed a complaint in federal district court in North Carolina against General Instrument, while in the same month, Next Level filed a lawsuit against BroadBand in March 1997 in U.S. court in Northern California. As part of the settlement, both complaints are being dismissed with prejudice, the companies said. In agreeing to the deal, BroadBand and Next Level acknowledged the value of each other's patent portfolio and the importance of working jointly to promote the broadband market. Next Level and BroadBand -- along with partner Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU - news) -- are leaders in offering integrated equipment for delivering voice, video and data communications over high-speed phone networks to customers. Earlier this week, U S West Communications (USW - news) announced plans to deploy Next Level's broadband systems to serve 400,000 residents in Phoenix in a contract valued at $500 million, a Next Level spokesman said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------