Enterasys sues Foundry, Extreme over patents

Equipment vendor Enterasys Networks has filed suit against Foundry Networks and Extreme Networks today, alleging patent infringement.

The complaint, filed in a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, maintains the latter two vendors make and sell products that infringe on six patents owned by Enterasys. Those patents relate to virtual local area networking, multiprotocol routing and other technologies, the company said.

Enterasys will seek compensation and “other relief,” which a spokesman said could potentially include injunctions against the sale of some Extreme and Foundry products. However, the spokesman declined to say at this time precisely which Extreme and Foundry products are alleged to represent patent infringement in the complaint.

When asked what dictated the timing of the suit, the Enterasys spokesman said, “We filed the suits now because our case was fully prepared and ready for the courts.” Enterasys has filed more than a dozen new U.S. patent within the last year, the company said.