NICE Systems Ltd. has been ordered to pay $3.3 million in damages by the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia after losing a patent infringement case brought against it by a unit of Verint Systems Inc.
In a January 2006 suit brought by Verint Americas, formerly Witness Systems Inc., a U.S. District Court jury in Atlanta determined that certain features of NICE’s analytics products infringe two claims of Witness’s U.S. patent No. 6,404,857. The two companies competed to acquire Witness Systems, which was ultimately purchased by Verint for $950 million in May 2007.
NICE, based in Ra’anana, Israel, intends to ask the trial court to overturn the verdict, and if necessary, it would appeal the decision. The company says the judgment wouldn’t materially impact on its business.
Verint and NICE both provide audio/video surveillance and analytics equipment for civilian and security customers.
