OptimNet, as ETRI’s Exclusive Licensee, Sues Verizon Wireless

As the exclusive licensee of five asserted patents held by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), OptimNet LLC has sued Verizon (Verizon Wireless and several other subsidiaries) (2:25-cv-00628) in the Eastern District of Texas. The plaintiff targets the provision of passive optical networking (PON) systems, including systems using the Next Generation Passive Optical Network 2 (NG-PON2) standard, as used in part to provide backhaul for Verizon’s 5G network. The infringing aspects of those systems are further described as comprising “network devices that employ Verizon’s OTU4 network”, including certain Infinera transponders and muxponders, that “utilize the ITU-T G.709/Y.1331 OTU4 infrastructure across Verizon’s optical backbone”; as well as “Verizon’s wavelength services products, including customer premise network equipment (CPNE)”, the aforementioned Infinera products, and optical transport systems from Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, and Nokia-Siemens.