Network-1 Settles Patent Issue With Sony

Network-1 Technologies, Inc. (NYSE MKT:

) disclosed Friday that it agreed to settle its patent litigation issue with Sony Corporation

and affiliated entities pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. According to the company, Sony was one of sixteen original defendants named in the litigation. Network-1 said that as part of the settlement, Sony reached a Settlement Agreement, as well as, non-exclusive License Agreement for the Remote Power Patent. According to the terms of the license, the Japanese firm would get a fully-paid license to the Remote Power Patent for its full term that expires in March 2020. It would also apply to its sales of Power over Ethernet products, including those PoE products that comply with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers 802.3af and 802.3at Standards. The company indicated that the Remote Power Patent related to, among other things, delivering power over Ethernet cables to remotely power network connected devices. That included wireless switches, wireless access points, VoIP telephones and network cameras. Network-1 said that the IEEE approved the 802.3af PoE Standard in 2003 that led to the rapid adoption of PoE. The IEEE also approved the 802.3at Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE Plus) Standard that boosted the maximum power delivered to network devices to 40-60 watts from the current 15 watts under the 802.3af Standard. In the pre-market trading, the stock was up b 9.09 percent.