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Technology Stocks : Lucent Technologies (LU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Greg Jung who wrote (3527)	8/4/1998 11:19:00 PM
From: Immi	Respond to of 21876

Cisco calls Lucent patent suit a "marketing stunt" NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO - news) officials on Tuesday dismissed a broad patent infringement suit filed against it by Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU - news) as a marketing ploy aimed at slowing its market competitiveness. ''We view the Lucent lawsuit as basically a marketing tactic,'' Cisco Chief Executive Officer John Chambers told Wall Street analysts during a conference call on Tuesday following the company's fourth quarter financial report. Computer network leader Cisco appeared to be gearing up for a counter-attack to the suit. ''We do plan to respond to this fairly soon,'' said another Cisco official in response to a question by a brokerage analyst. In June, telecommunications equipment group Lucent, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Delaware charging Cisco with infringing eight key data network patents. The patents cover technology used in three basic categories of Cisco products -- data routers and two types of high-speed data switching equipment. Lucent provides a range of products including intelligent switching, data networking and wireless communication. Six weeks ago, Cisco responded by saying it considered the Lucent lawsuit to be without merit and that it intended to assert its own intellectual property rights in these areas. Asked on Tuesday how the lawsuit might distract Cisco from its growing marketplace rivalry with Lucent, Chambers said: ''We don't view it (the litigation) as a big issue.'' Cisco, the world's biggest network equipment vendor, is not the only target of Lucent's legal assault. Chambers said many companies in the industry are facing similar suits from Lucent, including many smaller companies. Smaller firms face a difficult choice over legal strategy, the Cisco executive said. If they challenged Lucent's claims, Lucent may assert additional violations from among its 30,000 deep patent portfolio. Cisco can withstand such bullying, he said. ''We have the financial strength to stand up to (Lucent) and we intend to stand up to this.'' He criticised Lucent's strategy as legalistic ''old world'' tactics tied to the oligopolistic era of the telecom supply business, when a few industry giants controlled research, product development and overall supply of the phone network and lawsuits helped break the impasse between established players. Chambers argued that the Internet has changed all that. Now hundreds of up-starts from the ''new world'' -- Chambers includes Cisco here -- have begun to challenge the hegemony of traditional telecom equipment supply giants such as Lucent. ''The Internet industry has been very open,'' he said, noting that the industry typically has chosen to cross-license relevant patent technology to rivals and battle for superiority in the marketplace, rather than in courts of law. These lawsuits ''could come back to bite'' Lucent, Chambers warned, by creating ill-will throughout the technology supply chain.

To: Greg Jung who wrote (3527)	8/5/1998 3:58:00 AM
From: Sawtooth	Respond to of 21876

<<I was feeling naughty and your post inspired me to interject. Its' been a while since I bothered with LU>> No problem, Greg; we all felt a little testy after today. I probably needed to be pulled back a little from the "felosifizing" I tend towards when things get a little hairy. If you're interested in LU, I look forward to your posts; I've enjoyed your comments on other threads. I hope tomorrow doesn't suck as bad but it looks like it could be shaping up to be a tough day. Good luck. ...Tim