When the competition gets tough, the weak go to court. That seems to be the case in patent infringement lawsuits, anyway.
This time, cableco Charter Communications (CHTR) is suing Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), claiming infringement on VoD, subscription-on-demand and data-transmission services. Interestingly, Charter has not sued any of its cable rivals – just telco Verizon, which is making significant gains with FiOS.
So the question, as always, is why now? The answer probably is that Charter is lagging when it comes to offering higher-speed Internet access – its top speed is 16mpbs while Verizon’s is 50mpbs – and losing customers to Verizon.
This is the second high-profile, Internet-related patent suit to crop up in the last month. In December, CentreOne sued three IP companies, including Verizon.
Verizon said it believes neither complaint has merit.
