The lawsuit-happy Akamai and MIT have jointly sued rival broadband content delivery network Limelight Networks, alleging patent infringement. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in the State of Massachusetts in late June 2006, allege that Limelight is infringing on Patent # 6,108,703 and patent # 6,553,413. Both patents were issued to MIT and are licensed exclusively to Akamai.
The lawsuit comes at an awkward time for Limelight, says Om, which is the CDN for hot young start-ups such as You Tube among its 500 customers. Other notable customers include XBox Live, Brightcove, and CBS Sportsline. The story says that the firm is also the process of raising a monster round of financing, which would value the company well in excess of $200 million.
Akamai and MIT were also locked in a legal wrestling match with Cable & Wireless. Akamai had a similar lawsuit against then rival Speedera, and ended up buying them. I guess it is Limelight’s turn to be bought…