COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

WACO DIVISION

SABLE NETWORKS, INC. AND 

SABLE IP, LLC,

 Plaintiffs,

v.

CISCO SYSTEMS, INC.,

 Defendant.

Civil Action No._________

JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT

Sable Networks, Inc. and Sable IP, LLC (collectively, “Sable” or “Plaintiffs”) bring this 

action and makes the following allegations of patent infringement relating to U.S. Patent Nos.: 

6,954,431 (the “’431 patent”); 6,977,932 (the “’932 patent”); 7,012,919 (the “’919 patent”); 

7,428,209 (the “’209 patent”); 8,085,775 (the “’775 patent”); and 8,817,790 (the “’790 patent”)

(collectively, the “patents-in-suit”). Defendant Cisco Systems, Inc. (“Cisco” or “Defendant”) 

infringes the patents-in-suit in violation of the patent laws of the United States of America, 

35 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.

INTRODUCTION

1. The patents-in-suit arise from technologies developed by Dr. Lawrence G. Roberts

- one of the founding fathers of the internet.1

 The patents relate to technologies for efficiently 

managing the flow of data packets over routers and switch devices. Dr. Roberts and engineers at 

 1 Chris Woodford, THE INTERNET: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA VOLUME 2 at 204 (2005) 

(“Widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Internet, Lawrence Roberts was the 

primary architect of ARPANET, the predecessor of the Internet.”).

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Caspian Networks, Inc. and later Sable Networks, Inc. developed these technologies to address the 

increasing amount of data sent over computer networks. 

2. Dr. Roberts is best known for his work as the Chief Scientist of the Advanced 

Research Projects Agency (ARPA) where he designed and oversaw the implementation of 

ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. Dr. Roberts’ work on ARPANET played a key role in 

the development of digital network transmission technologies.2

 Initially, ARPANET was used 

primarily to send electronic mail and Dr. Roberts developed the first program for reading and 

sending electronic messages. 

Keenan Mayo and Peter Newcomb, How The Web Was Won, VANITY FAIR at 96-97 (January 7, 

2009); One of the Engineers Who Invented the Internet Wants to Build A Radical new Router,

IEEE SPECTRUM MAGAZINE (July 2009); Katie Hafner, Billions Served Daily, and Counting, N.Y.

TIMES at G1 (December 6, 2001)(“Lawrence Roberts, who was then a manager at the Advanced 

Research Projects Agency's Information Processing Techniques Office, solved that problem after 

his boss began complaining about the volume of e-mail piling up in his in box. In 1972, Dr. Roberts 

produced the first e-mail manager, called RD, which included a filing system, as well as a Delete 

function.”). 

3. Dr. Roberts’ work on ARPANET played a key role in the development of packet 

switching networks.

3

 Packet switching is a digital network transmission process in which data is 

 2 Katie Hafner, Lawrence Roberts, Who Helped Design Internet’s Precursor, N.Y. TIMES at A2 

(December 31, 2018) (“Dr. Roberts was considered the decisive force behind packet switching, 

the technology that breaks data into discrete bundles that are then sent along various paths around 

a network and reassembled at their destination.”).

3 Katie Hafner, Lawrence Roberts, Who Helped Design Internet’s Precursor, N.Y. TIMES at A2 

(December 31, 2018) (“Dr. Roberts was considered the decisive force behind packet switching, 

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broken into parts which are sent independently and reassembled at a destination. Electronic 

messages sent over the ARPANET were broken up into packets then routed over a network to a 

destination. “In designing the ARPANET, Roberts expanded on the work he'd done at MIT, using 

those tiny data packets to send information from place to place.”4 Packet switching has become 

the primary technology for data communications over computer networks. 

George Johnson, From Two Small Nodes, a Mighty Web Has Grown, N.Y. TIMES at F1 (October 

12, 1999).

4. After leaving ARPANET, Dr. Roberts grew increasingly concerned that existing 

technologies for routing data packets were incapable of addressing the increasing amounts of data 

 

the technology that breaks data into discrete bundles that are then sent along various paths around 

a network and reassembled at their destination.”).

4 Code Metz, Larry Roberts Calls Himself the Founder of The Internet. Who Are You To Argue, 

WIRED MAGAZINE (September 24, 2012); John C. McDonald, FUNDAMENTALS OF DIGITAL 

SWITCHING at 211 (1990) (“The ARPANET was, in part, an experimental verification of the 

packet switching concept. Robert’s objective was a new capability for resource sharing.”).

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traversing the internet.

5

 Dr. Roberts identified that as the “Net grows, the more loss and 

transmission of data occurs. Eventually, gridlock will set in.”6 

The Internet is broken. I should know: I designed it. In 1967, I wrote the first plan 

for the ancestor of today's Internet, the Advanced Research Projects Agency 

Network, or ARPANET, and then led the team that designed and built it. The main 

idea was to share the available network infrastructure by sending data as small, 

independent packets, which, though they might arrive at different times, would still 

generally make it to their destinations. The small computers that directed the data 

traffic-I called them Interface Message Processors, or IMPs-evolved into today's 

routers, and for a long time they've kept up with the Net's phenomenal growth. Until 

now.

Lawrence Roberts, A Radical New Router, IEEE SPECTRUM Vol. 46(7) at 34 (August 2009)

(emphasis added).

5. In 1998, Dr. Roberts founded Caspian Networks.

7 At Caspian Networks, Dr. 

Roberts developed a new kind of internet router to efficiently route packets over a network. This 

new router was aimed at addressing concerns about network “gridlock.” In a 2001 interview with 

Wired Magazine, Dr. Roberts discussed the router he was developing at Caspian Networks – the 

Apeiro. “Roberts says the Apeiro will also create new revenue streams for the carriers by solving 

the ‘voice and video problem.’ IP voice and video, unlike email and static Web pages, breaks 

down dramatically if there's a delay - as little as a few milliseconds - in getting packets from host 

to recipient.”8

6. The Apeiro debuted in 2003. The Apeiro, a flow-based router, can identify the 

nature of a packet – be it audio, text, or video, and prioritize it accordingly. The Apeiro included 

 5 eWeek Editors, Feeling A Little Congested, EWEEK MAGAZINE (September 24, 2001) (“Lawrence 

Roberts, one of the primary developers of Internet precursor ARPANet and CTO of Caspian 

Networks, recently released research indicating that Net traffic has quadrupled during the past 

year alone.”).

6 Michael Cooney, Can ATM Save The Internet, NETWORK WORLD at 16 (May 20, 1996); 

Lawrence Roberts, A RADICAL NEW ROUTER, IEEE Spectrum Vol. 46 34-39 (August 2009).

7 Caspian Networks, Inc. was founded in 1998 as Packetcom, LLC and changed its name to 

Caspian Networks, Inc. in 1999.

8 John McHugh, The n-Dimensional Superswitch, WIRED MAGAZINE VOL. 9.05 at 88 (May 1, 

2001).

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numerous technological advances including quality of service (QoS) routing and flow-based 

routing. 

Jim Duffy, Router Newcomers take on Cisco, Juniper, NETWORK WORLD at 14 (April 14, 2013); 

Stephen Lawson, Caspian Testing Stellar Core Offering, NETWORK WORLD at 33 (December 17, 

2001); Tim Greene, Caspian Plans Superfast Routing For The ‘Net Core, NETWORK WORLD at 10 

(January 29, 2001); Andrew P. Madden, Company Spotlight: Caspian Networks, MIT

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW at 33 (August 2005); and Loring Wirbel, Caspian Moves Apeiro Router To 

Full Availability, EE TIMES (April 14, 2003).

7. At its height, Caspian Networks Inc. raised more than $300 million dollars and 

grew to more than 320 employees in the pursuit of developing and commercializing Dr. Roberts’ 

groundbreaking networking technologies, including building flow-based routers that advanced 

quality of service and load balancing performance. However, despite early success with its 

technology and business, Caspian hit hard times when the telecommunications bubble burst. 

8. Sable Networks, Inc. was formed by Dr. Sang Hwa Lee to further develop and 

commercialize the flow-based networking technologies developed by Dr. Roberts and Caspian 

Networks.9 Sable Networks, Inc. has continued its product development efforts and has gained 

 9 Dr. Lee, through his company Mobile Convergence, Ltd. purchased the assets of Caspian 

Networks Inc. and subsequently created Sable Networks, Inc.

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commercial success with customers in Japan, South Korea, and China. Customers of Sable 

Networks, Inc. have included: SK Telecom, NTT Bizlink, Hanaro Telecom, Dacom Corporation, 

USEN Corporation, Korea Telecom, China Unicom, China Telecom, and China Tietong.

SK Telecom and Sable Networks Sign Convergence Network Deal, COMMS UPDATE – TELECOM 

NEWS SERVICE (February 4, 2009) (“South Korean operator SK Telecom has announced that it has 

signed a deal with US-based network and solutions provider Sable Networks.”); China Telecom 

Deploys Sable, LIGHT READING NEWS FEED (November 19, 2007) (“Sable Networks Inc., a leading 

provider of service controllers, today announced that China Telecom Ltd, the largest landline 

telecom company in China, has deployed the Sable Networks Service Controller in their 

network.”).

9. Armed with the assets of Caspian Networks Inc. as well as members of Caspian 

Networks’ technical team, Sable Networks, Inc. continued the product development efforts 

stemming from Dr. Roberts’ flow-based router technologies. Sable Networks, Inc. developed 

custom application-specific integrated circuits (“ASIC”) designed for flow traffic management. 

Sable Network, Inc.’s ASICs include the Sable Networks SPI, which enables 20 Gigabit flow 

processing. In addition, Sable Networks, Inc. developed and released S-Series Service Controllers 

(e.g., S80 and S240 Service Controller models) that contain Sable Networks’ flow-based 

programmable ASICs, POS and Ethernet interfaces, and carrier-hardened routing and scalability 

from 10 to 800 Gigabits.

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SABLE NETWORKS S-SERIES SERVICE CONTROLLERS (showing the S240-240G Multi-Shelf System, 

S80-80G Single-Shelf System, and S20-20G Stand-Alone System). 

10. Sable pursues the reasonable royalties owed for Cisco’s use of the inventions 

claimed in Sable’s patent portfolio, which arise from Caspian Networks and Sable Networks’ 

groundbreaking technology.

SABLE’S PATENT PORTFOLIO

11. Sable’s patent portfolio includes over 34 patent assets, including 14 granted U.S. 

patents. Dr. Lawrence Roberts’ pioneering work on QoS traffic prioritization, flow-based 

switching and routing, and the work of Dr. Roberts’ colleagues at Caspian Networks Inc. and Sable 

Networks, Inc. are claimed in the various patents owned by Sable. 

12. Highlighting the importance of the patents-in-suit is the fact that the Sable’s patent 

portfolio has been cited by over 1,000 U.S. and international patents and patent applications 

assigned to a wide variety of the largest companies operating in the computer networking field. 

Sable’s patents have been cited by companies such as:

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• Cisco Systems, Inc.

10

• Juniper Networks, Inc.

11

• Broadcom Limited12

• EMC Corporation13

• F5 Networks, Inc.14

• Verizon Communications Inc.15

• Microsoft Corporation16

• Intel Corporation17

• Extreme Networks, Inc.18

• Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.19

13. The Sable patent portfolio has been cited by Cisco in over 77 of its own patents and 

patent applications. Over fifteen years after Dr. Roberts developed the technologies that are at 

issue in this case, Cisco recognized the need to manage the escalating volumes of network data 

through flow-based handling of data packets. At Cisco’s 2020 customer conference, Scott Harrell, 

senior vice president of Cisco’s Internet Based Networking Group, trumpeted Cisco’s “brand-new 

solution” of using data flows in network switches.

It's a brand-new solution that actually integrates directly inside of your existing 

products, ACI, DCNM, and for your data center and allows you to actually use 

 10 See, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 7,411,965; 7,436,830; 7,539,499; 7,580,351; 7,702,765; 7,817546; 

7,936,695; 8,077,721; 8,493,867; 8,868,775; and 9,013,985.

11 See, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 7,463,639; 7,702,810; 7,826,375; 8,593,970; 8,717,889; 8,811,163; 

8,811,183; 8,964,556; 9,032,089; 9,065,773; and 9,832,099.

12 See, e.g., U.S. Patent No. 7,187,687; 7,206,283; 7,266,117; 7,596,139; 7,649,885; 8,014,315; 

8,037,399; 8,170,044; 8,194,666; 8,271,859; 8,448,162; 8,493,988; 8,514,716; and 7,657,703.

13 See, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 6,976,134; 7,185,062; 7,404,000; 7,421,509; 7,864,758; and 

8,085,794.

14 See, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 7,206,282; 7,580,353; 8,418,233; 8,565,088; 9,225,479; 9,106,606; 

9,130,846; 9,210,177; 9,614,772; 9,967,331; and 9,832,069.

15 See, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 7,349,393; 7,821,929; 8,218,569; 8,289,973; 9,282,113; and 

8,913,623.

16 See, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 7,567,504; 7,590,736; 7,669,235; 7,778,422; 7,941,309; 7,636,917; 

9,571,550; and 9,800,592.

17 See, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 7,177,956; 7,283,464; 9,485,178; 9,047,417; 8,718,096; 8,036,246; 

8,493,852; and 8,730,984.

18 See, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 7,903,654; 7,978,614; 8,149839; 10,212,224; 9,112,780; and 

8,395,996.

19 See, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 7,903,553; 7,957,421; 10,015,079; 10,505,840; and Chinese Patent 

Nos. CN108028828 and CN106161333.

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those tools to get to a root cause. And we can do things that nobody else can do. 

We can actually not only bring out all the stats and the data that we know from your 

Nexus switches, but we can also combine that with flow data because our cloudscale ASICs produce the richest set of flow data of any ASICs on the market. And 

we can use that to quickly pinpoint an issue with an application and get you down 

to which leaf potentially had a problem, gets you down to whether it was the switch

or whether it was the server or whether it was a particular app. This is something 

uniquely that Cisco can do.

Cisco Live 2020 Opening Keynote, CISCO VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION at 66:12-66:55 (January 27, 

2020), available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-MnUWuC_BU (emphasis added).20

THE PARTIES

SABLE NETWORKS, INC.

14. Sable Networks, Inc. (“Sable Networks”) is a corporation organized and existing 

under the laws of the State of California. 

15. Sable Networks was formed to continue the research, development, and 

commercialization work of Caspian Networks Inc., which was founded by Dr. Lawrence Roberts 

to provide flow-based switching and routing technologies to improve the efficiency and quality of 

computer networks.

16. Sable Networks is the owner by assignment of all of the patents-in-suit. 

SABLE IP, LLC

17. Sable IP, LLC (“Sable IP”) is a Delaware limited liability company with its 

principal place of business at 225 S. 6th Street, Suite 3900, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402. 

Pursuant to an exclusive license agreement with Sable Networks, Sable IP is the exclusive licensee 

of the patents-in-suit. 

 20 In 1996, Cisco released a service called NetFlow in 1996 that enabled the capture of network 

traffic statistics on its routers and switches. However, NetFlow was released as service to 

“provide network administrators with access to IP flow information from their data networks.” 

NETFLOW SERVICES SOLUTION GUIDE at 2 (July 16, 2001). NetFlow standing alone is a network 

traffic reporting tool and does not control the flow of packets across a router or switch. 

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CISCO SYSTEMS, INC.

18. Cisco Systems, Inc. (“Cisco”), is a California corporation with its principal place 

of business at 170 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, California 95134. Cisco may be served through 

its registered agent Prentice Hall Corporation System, 211 E. 7th Street, Suite 620, Austin, Texas 

78701. Cisco is registered to do business in the State of Texas and has been since at least December 

29, 1989.

19. Cisco conducts business operations within the Western District of Texas where it 

sells, develops, and/or markets its products including facilities at 12515 Research Blvd., Building 

3, Austin, Texas 78759, and at 18615 Tuscany Stone, San Antonio, Texas 78258.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

20. This action arises under the patent laws of the United States, Title 35 of the United 

States Code. Accordingly, this Court has exclusive subject matter jurisdiction over this action 

under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1338(a).

21. This Court has personal jurisdiction over Cisco in this action because Cisco has 

committed acts within the Western District of Texas giving rise to this action and has established 

minimum contacts with this forum such that the exercise of jurisdiction over Cisco would not 

offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. Defendant Cisco, directly and/or 

through subsidiaries or intermediaries (including distributors, retailers, and others), has committed 

and continues to commit acts of infringement in this District by, among other things, offering to 

sell and selling products and/or services that infringe the patents-in-suit. Moreover, Cisco is 

registered to do business in the State of Texas, has offices and facilities in the State of Texas, and 

actively directs its activities to customers located in the State of Texas. 

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22. Venue is proper in this district under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391(b)-(d) and 1400(b). 

Defendant Cisco is registered to do business in the State of Texas, has offices in the State of Texas, 

has transacted business in the Western District of Texas and has committed acts of direct and 

indirect infringement in the Western District of Texas. 

23. Cisco has a regular and established place of business in this District and has 

committed acts of infringement in this District. Cisco has permanent office locations at 12515 

Research Blvd., Building 3, Austin, Texas 78759, and at 18615 Tuscany Stone, San Antonio, 

Texas 78258, both of which are located within this District. Cisco employs full-time personnel 

such as sales personnel and engineers in this District, including in Austin, Texas. Cisco has also 

committed acts of infringement in this District by commercializing, marketing, selling, 

distributing, testing, and servicing certain Accused Products. 

24. This Court has personal jurisdiction over Cisco. Cisco has conducted and does 

conduct business within the State of Texas. Cisco, directly or through subsidiaries or 

intermediaries (including distributors, retailers, and others), ships, distributes, makes, uses, offers 

for sale, sells, imports, and/or advertises (including by providing an interactive web page) its

products and/or services in the United States and the Western District of Texas and/or contributes

to and actively induces its customers to ship, distribute, make, use, offer for sale, sell, import,

and/or advertise (including the provision of an interactive web page) infringing products and/or

services in the United States and the Western District of Texas. Cisco, directly and through

subsidiaries or intermediaries (including distributors, retailers, and others), has purposefully and

voluntarily placed one or more of its infringing products and/or services, as described below, into

the stream of commerce with the expectation that those products will be purchased and used by

customers and/or consumers in the Western District of Texas. These infringing products and/or

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services have been and continue to be made, used, sold, offered for sale, purchased, and/or

imported by customers and/or consumers in the Western District of Texas. Cisco has committed

acts of patent infringement within the Western District of Texas. Cisco interacts with customers 

in Texas, including through visits to customer sites in Texas. Through these interactions and visits, 

Cisco directly infringes the patents-in-suit. Cisco also interacts with customers who sell the 

Accused Products into Texas, knowing that these customers will sell the Accused Products into 

Texas, either directly or through intermediaries.

25. Cisco has minimum contacts with this District such that the maintenance of this

action within this District would not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.

Thus, the Court therefore has both general and specific personal jurisdiction over Cisco.

THE ASSERTED PATENTS

U.S. PATENT NO. 6,954,431

26. U.S. Patent No. 6,954,431 (the “’431 patent”) entitled, Micro-Flow Management, 

was filed on December 6, 2001, and claims priority to April 19, 2000. The ‘431 patent is subject 

to a 35 U.S.C. § 154(b) term extension of 722 days. Sable Networks, Inc. is the owner by 

assignment of the ‘431 patent. Sable IP is the exclusive licensee of the ‘431 patent. A true and 

correct copy of the ‘431 patent is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 

27. The ‘431 patent discloses novel methods and systems for managing data traffic 

comprising a plurality of micro-flows through a network. 

28. The inventions disclosed in the ‘431 patent improve the quality of service in data 

transmissions over a computer network by relying on per micro-flow state information that enables 

rate and delay variation requirements to be within set quantified levels of service.

29. The ‘431 patent discloses technologies that speed the rate at which data can 

effectively travel over a computer network by optimizing packet discarding.

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30. The ‘431 patent discloses the use of micro-flow state information to determine the 

rate of each flow, thus optimizing discards and optimizing the quality of service of data 

transmission.

31. The ‘431 patent discloses methods and systems that avoid networking system 

degradation by not overloading network switch buffers.

32. The ‘431 patent discloses a method for managing data traffic through a network 

that determines a capacity of a buffer containing a micro-flow based on a characteristic.

33. The ‘431 patent discloses a method for managing data traffic through a network 

that assigns an acceptable threshold value for the capacity of the buffer over a predetermined 

period of time.

34. The ‘431 patent discloses a method for managing data traffic through a network 

that delegates a portion of available bandwidth in the network to the micro-flow.

35. The ‘431 patent discloses a method for managing data traffic through a network 

that uses the buffer for damping jitter associated with the micro-flow.

36. The ‘431 patent has been cited by 103 patents and patent applications as relevant 

prior art. Specifically, patents issued to the following companies have cited the ‘431 patent as 

relevant prior art:

• Cisco Systems, Inc.

• Juniper Networks, Inc.

• Broadcom Limited

• Intel Corporation

• Sun Microsystems, Inc.

• Oracle Corporation

• Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

• Adtran, Inc.

• Time Warner Cable, Inc.

• FSA Technologies, Inc.

• Internap Corporation

• France Telecom

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• The Boeing Company

• Wistaria Trading, Ltd.

U.S. PATENT NO. 6,977,932

37. U.S. Patent No. 6,977,932 (the “’932 patent”) entitled, System and Method for

Network Tunneling Utilizing Micro-Flow State Information, was filed on January 16, 2002. The 

‘932 patent is subject to a 35 U.S.C. § 154(b) term extension of 815 days. Sable Networks, Inc. is 

the owner by assignment of the ‘932 patent. Sable IP is the exclusive licensee of the ‘932 patent. 

A true and correct copy of the ‘932 patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B. 

38. The ‘932 patent discloses novel methods and apparatuses for utilizing a router 

capable of network tunneling utilizing flow state information. 

39. The inventions disclosed in the ‘932 patent enable the use of micro-flow state 

information to improve network tunneling techniques.

40. The inventions disclosed in the ‘932 patent maintain flow state information for 

various quality of service characteristics by utilizing aggregate flow blocks.

41. The aggregate flow blocks disclosed in the ‘932 patent maintain micro-flow block 

information. 

42. The technologies claimed in the ‘932 patent speed the flow of network traffic over 

computer networks by avoiding time consuming and processor intensive tasks by combining flow 

state information with other information such as label switched paths utilization information. This 

permits the micro-flows associated with an aggregate flow block to all be processed in a similar 

manner.

43. The technologies disclosed in the ‘932 patent result in more efficient computer 

networks by avoiding the processor intensive tasks of searching millions of flow blocks to identify 

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flow blocks having certain micro-flow characteristics in order to process large numbers of microflows.

44. The ‘932 patent discloses a router capable of network tunneling utilizing flow state 

information containing an aggregate flow block having tunnel specific information for a particular 

network tunnel.

45. The ‘932 patent discloses a router capable of network tunneling utilizing flow state 

information containing a flow block having flow state information for a micro-flow, the flow block 

further including an identifier that associates the flow block with the aggregate flow block.

46. The ‘932 patent discloses a router capable of network tunneling utilizing flow state 

information wherein the aggregate flow block stores statistics for the particular network tunnel.

47. The ‘932 patent has been cited by 86 patents and patent applications as relevant 

prior art. Specifically, patents issued to the following companies have cited the ‘932 patent as 

relevant prior art:

• Cisco Systems, Inc.

• Juniper Networks, Inc.

• Avaya, Inc.

• Fujitsu, Ltd.

• Intel Corporation

• Nokia Corporation

• Qualcomm, Inc.

• Sprint Communications Co.

• Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson

• Verizon Communications, Inc.

U.S. PATENT NO. 7,012,919

48. U.S. Patent No. 7,012,919 (the “‘919 patent”) entitled, Micro-Flow Label 

Switching, was filed on December 8, 2000, and claims priority to April 19, 2000. The ‘919 patent 

is subject to a 35 U.S.C. § 154(b) term extension of 1,069 days. Sable Networks, Inc. is the owner 

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by assignment of the ‘919 patent. Sable IP is the exclusive licensee of the ‘919 patent. A true 

and correct copy of the ‘919 patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C. 

49. The ‘919 patent claims specific methods and systems for providing aggregate 

micro-flows. 

50. The technologies claimed in the ‘919 patent improve data transmission in computer 

networks by providing micro-flow based label switched path utilization.

51. The inventions taught in the ‘919 patent achieve improvements in intelligent 

network traffic engineering protocols by providing load balancing based on the utilization of 

individual label switched paths.

52. In one embodiment described in the ‘919 patent, a method for providing an 

aggregate micro-flow having intelligent load balancing is disclosed.

53. In this embodiment, a set of label switched paths is defined for a network domain, 

and as the network receives a set of data packets, a micro-flow comprising the set of data packets 

is defined.

54. The ‘919 patent further discloses including a quality of service type in addition to 

the information included in each data packet.

55. The ‘919 patent teaches selecting a label switched path from the defined set of label 

switched paths based on the quality of service type of the micro-flow.

56. The ‘919 patent discloses a method for providing aggregate micro-flows that 

defines a set of label switched paths.

57. The ‘919 patent discloses a method for providing aggregate micro-flows that 

defines a micro-flow comprising a set of data packets, the micro-flow having a quality of service 

type.

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58. The ‘919 patent discloses a method for providing aggregate micro-flows that selects 

a particular label switched path from the defined set of label switched paths based on the quality 

of service type of the micro-flow.

59. The ‘919 patent discloses a method for providing aggregate micro-flows that 

transmits the micro-flow along the selected label switched path, the micro-flow having an 

associated forwarding equivalence class, the forwarding equivalence class defining additional 

transmission constraints for the micro-flow.

60. The ‘919 patent has been cited by 242 United States and international patents and 

patent applications as relevant prior art. Specifically, patents issued to the following companies 

have cited the ‘919 patent family as relevant prior art.

• Cisco Systems, Inc.

• Juniper Networks, Inc.

• Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

• AT&T, Inc.

• Broadcom, Inc.

• Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.

• Arris Enterprises LLC

• Nicira, Inc.

• Extreme Networks, Inc.

• Fortinet, Inc.

• Foundry Networks, Inc.

• Fujitsu Ltd.

• Intel Corporation

• Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

• Hitachi, Ltd. 

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company

• Marlow Technologies, LLC

• Microsoft Corporation

• ServiceNow, Inc.

• Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson 

• Telcordia Technologies, Inc.

• Riverbed Technology, Inc.

• Uber Technologies, Inc.

• The Regents of the University of California

• Verizon Communications, Inc.

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U.S. PATENT NO. 7,428,209

61. U.S. Patent No. 7,428,209 (the “’209 patent”) entitled, Network Failure Recovery 

Mechanism, was filed on June 12, 2001. The ‘209 patent is subject to a 35 U.S.C. § 154(b) term 

extension of 655 days. Sable Networks, Inc. is the owner by assignment of the ‘209 patent. Sable 

IP is the exclusive licensee of the ‘209 patent. A true and correct copy of the ‘209 patent is 

attached hereto as Exhibit D. 

62. The ‘209 patent discloses novel methods and systems for implementing within a 

network router a method for recovering from a failure. 

63. The inventions disclosed in the ‘209 patent enable large-scale computer networks 

to quickly recover from a component failure.

64. The ‘209 patent discloses a method implemented on a network router that recovers 

from a failure.

65. The ‘209 patent discloses a method implemented on a network router for sending, 

via a first route, a first set of information from an ingress module to a first egress module for 

forwarding by the first egress module to a destination external to the router, where a first set of 

information traverses a path which encompasses at least a portion of the first route.

66. The ‘209 patent discloses a method implemented on a network router for detecting 

an external failure beyond the first egress module.

67. The ‘209 patent discloses a method implemented on a network router for directing 

a message to the ingress module informing the ingress module of the external failure in response 

to an external failure.

68. The ‘209 patent discloses a method implemented on a network router for selecting 

an alternate egress module capable of forwarding information to a destination in response to an 

error message.

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69. The ‘209 patent discloses a method implemented on a network router for sending, 

via a second route, a future set of information from the ingress module to the alternate egress 

module for forwarding to the destination, where the first set of information and the future set of 

information are both part of a flow.

70. The ‘209 patent discloses a method implemented on a network router for causing 

other sets of information associated with the flow to be sent from the ingress module to the 

alternate egress module in response to the message.

71. The ‘209 patent discloses a method implemented on a network router for directing 

to the ingress module that comprises: (1) identifying the ingress module; (2) accessing a routing 

table which comprises one or more routes to the ingress module; (3) obtaining a return route from 

the routing table, wherein the return route directs the message to the ingress module along a 

different path than that traversed by said first set of information; and (4) sending a message to the 

ingress module via the return route.

72. The ‘209 patent discloses a method implemented on a network router where the 

first egress module and the alternate egress module are predetermined, where identifiers associated 

with the first egress module and the alternate egress module are stored within a flow block 

associated with the flow. Further, the ’209 patent teaches storing an indication in the flow block 

that all sets of information associated with the flow are to be sent to the alternate egress module.

73. The ‘209 patent family has been cited by 52 patents and patent applications as 

relevant prior art. Specifically, patents issued to the following companies have cited the ‘209

patent family as relevant prior art:

• Cisco Systems, Inc.

• AT&T, Inc.

• Canon, Inc.

• British Telecommunications Public Limited Co.

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• EMC Corporation

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company

• Infinera Corporation

• International Business Machines Corporation

• ShoreTel, Inc.

• Nokia Corporation

• Monarch Networking Solutions LLC

U.S. PATENT NO. 8,085,775

74. U.S. Patent No. 8,085,775 (the “’775 patent”) entitled, Identifying Flows Based On 

Behavior Characteristics And Applying User-Defined Actions, was filed on July 31, 2006. The 

‘775 patent is subject to a 35 U.S.C. § 154(b) term extension of 467 days. Sable Networks, Inc. is 

the owner by assignment of the ‘775 patent. Sable IP is the exclusive licensee of the ‘775 patent. 

A true and correct copy of the ‘775 patent is attached hereto as Exhibit E. 

75. The ‘775 patent discloses novel methods for identifying and handling a single 

application flow of a plurality of information packets. 

76. The inventions disclosed in the ‘775 patent teach methods of identifying, 

classifying, and controlling information packet flows based on their observed behavior rather than 

the content of the data packets.

77. The ‘775 patent teaches technologies that can effectively identify and control 

specific types of data traffic despite attempts to conceal the content or type of traffic represented 

by the data packets.

78. The ‘775 patent discloses a machine-implemented method for the identification and 

handling of a single application flow that creates a flow block as the first packet of a flow is 

processed by a router.

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79. The ‘775 patent discloses a machine-implemented method for the identification and 

handling of a single application flow that utilizes a flow block adapted to store payload-content 

agnostic behavioral statistics about the flow.

80. The ‘775 patent discloses a machine-implemented method for the identification and 

handling of a single application flow that updates the flow block with the flow’s payload-content 

agnostic behavioral statistics as packets belonging to the flow are processed by the router.

81. The ‘775 patent discloses a machine-implemented method for the identification and 

handling of a single application flow that utilizes a flow incapable of being identified by header 

information alone.

82. The ‘775 patent discloses a machine-implemented method for the identification and 

handling of a single application flow that heuristically determines whether at least one userspecified policy is satisfied by the payload-content agnostic behavioral statistics stored in the flow 

block.

83. The ‘775 patent discloses a machine-implemented method for the identification and 

handling of a single application flow that includes functionality wherein the payload-content 

agnostic behavioral statistics for the flow are calculated by the router.

84. The ‘775 patent discloses a machine-implemented method for the identification and 

handling of a single application flow that includes functionality wherein the payload-content 

agnostic behavioral statistics reflect the empirical behavior of the flow.

85. The ‘775 patent discloses a machine-implemented method for the identification and 

handling of a single application flow that includes functionality wherein at least one of the payloadcontent agnostic behavioral statistics is one of the following characteristics: (1) total byte count 

accumulated for the flow, (2) flow life duration, (3) average rate of flow, (4) average packet size, 

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(5) average packet rate, (6) average inter-packet gap, (7) instantaneous flow rate, and (8) moving 

average flow rate.

86. The ‘775 patent has been cited by 36 patents and patent applications as relevant 

prior art. Specifically, patents issued to the following companies have all cited the ‘775 patent as 

relevant prior art:

• Cisco Systems, Inc.

• Calix, Inc.

• British Telecommunications Public Limited Company

• Extreme Networks, Inc.

• Fujitsu Ltd.

• Level 3 Communications, Inc.

• Nokia Corporation

• Sprint Spectrum L.P.

• Solana Networks Inc.

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd.

• Verizon Communications, Inc.

U.S. PATENT NO. 8,817,790

87. U.S. Patent No. 8,817,790 (the “‘790 patent”) entitled, Identifying Flows Based on

Behavior Characteristics and Applying User-Defined Actions, was filed on September 23, 2011, 

and claims priority to July 31, 2006. Sable Networks, Inc. is the owner by assignment of the ‘790

patent. Sable IP is the exclusive licensee of the ‘790 patent. A true and correct copy of the ‘790

patent is attached hereto as Exhibit F. 

88. The ‘790 patent claims specific methods and devices for handling a flow of 

information packets.

89. The ‘790 patent discloses methods and systems for efficiently identifying 

undesirable traffic over data networks. 

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90. The ‘790 patent teaches technologies that identify traffic not by inspecting the 

payload of each data packet, but rather by analyzing and classifying the behavior of the data flows

to identify undesirable traffic.

91. The ‘790 patent discloses applying a user-specified action associated with a policy 

applicable to data flows that are designated undesirable.

92. The ‘790 patent discloses a method of handling a flow that processes a flow 

comprised of two or more information packets having header information in common.

93. The ‘790 patent discloses a method of handling a flow that stores headerindependent statistics about the flow in a flow block associated with the flow.

94. The ‘790 patent discloses a method of handling a flow that updates the headerindependent statistics in the flow block as each information packet belonging to the flow is 

processed.

95. The ‘790 patent discloses a method of handling a flow that categorizes the flow as 

one or more traffic types by determining whether the header-independent statistics match one or 

more profiles corresponding to a traffic type.

96. The ‘790 patent discloses a method of handling a flow that performs an operation 

that is determined according to the one or more traffic types on one or more information packets 

belonging to the flow if the one or more traffic types match one or more particular traffic types 

designated by a user.

97. The ‘790 patent family has been cited by 24 United States and international patents 

and patent applications as relevant prior art. Specifically, patents issued to the following 

companies have cited the ‘790 patent family as relevant prior art:

• Cisco Systems, Inc.

• Solana Networks, Inc.

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• British Telecommunications Public Limited Company

• Level 3 Communications, LLC

• Calix, Inc.

• Nokia Corporation

• Verizon Communications, Inc.

• Sprint Spectrum L.P.

• Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.

COUNT I

INFRINGEMENT OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,954,431

98. Plaintiffs reference and incorporate by reference the preceding paragraphs of this 

Complaint as if fully set forth herein.

99. Cisco designs, makes, uses, sells, and/or offers for sale in the United States products 

and/or services for managing data traffic comprising a plurality of micro-flows through a network. 

100. Cisco designs, makes, sells, offers to sell, imports, and/or uses the following 

products: Cisco Catalyst 6500 E-Series with Catalyst Supervisor Engine 2T or 2T-XL (including 

at least models 6503-E, 6504-E, 6506-E, 6509-E, 6509-V-E, and 6513-E); Cisco Catalyst 6800 

Series with Supervisor Engine 2T or 2T-XL (including at least model 6807-XL); Cisco Catalyst 

7600 Series with Supervisor Engine 2T or 2T-XL (including at least models 7604, 7606-S, 7609-

S, and 7613-S); Cisco Catalyst 6500 E-Series with Supervisor Engine 6T (including at least 

models 6503-E, 6504-E, 6506-E, 6509-E, 6509-V-E, and 6513-E); and Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series 

with Supervisor Engine 6T (including at least model 6807-XL) (collectively, the “Cisco '431 

Products(s)”).

101. One or more Cisco subsidiaries and/or affiliates use the Cisco ‘431 Products in 

regular business operations.

102. One or more of the Cisco ‘431 Products include technology for managing data 

traffic comprising a plurality of micro-flows through a network.

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103. The Cisco ‘431 Products perform a hardware lookup for a microflow of data. The 

following diagram shows that: (1) the product samples the packet header and (2) generates a “flow 

key” that is then converted into a hash value that reflects the packet header. The hash value is then 

compared against the data key in a NetFlow Lookup Table. If the packet matches the values in 

the NetFlow Data Table, the packet is treated as part of an existing flow. At the same time NetFlow 

statistics are updated to reflect the incoming packet.

Shawn Wargo, Catalyst 6800 Switch Architectures, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION BRKARC-3465

at 115 (2015).

104. One or more of the Cisco ‘431 Products determine the capacity of a buffer 

containing a micro-flow based on a characteristic.

105. One or more of the Cisco ‘431 Products assign an acceptable threshold value for 

the capacity of the buffer over a predetermined period of time.

106. One or more of the Cisco ‘431 Products delegate a portion of available bandwidth 

in the network to the micro-flow.

107. The Cisco ‘431 Products enable the setting of thresholds for a buffer that include 

the ability to set a threshold as a percentage of the buffer. 

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For each nonpriority queue, policy-map class queue-buffers or random-detect 

commands assign QoS values (CoS or DSCP) to thresholds within a queue. 

Thresholds are configured in numerical order. You cannot skip a threshold, but 

configuration of all threshold is not required. QoS values that are to be applied to 

the thresholds must be from the group of values that the class-map filters to the 

queue.

Release 15.2SY Supervisor Engine 2T Software Configuration Guide, CISCO SUPPORT 

DOCUMENTATION (February 13, 2019), available at: 

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/ios/15-2SY/config_guide.

108. The Cisco ‘431 Products perform the step of applying a “Microflow Policer” to 

each flow that matches the flow table values. This process is identified in the following excerpt 

from Cisco’s documentation.

Release 15.2SY Supervisor Engine 2T Software Configuration Guide, CISCO SUPPORT 

DOCUMENTATION (February 13, 2019) (emphasis added).

109. One or more of the Cisco ‘431 Products use the buffer for damping jitter associated 

with the micro-flow. Specifically, the use of queueing allows delay-sensitive data such as voice 

to be dequeued and sent before packets in other queues are dequeued. This allow the Cisco’ 431 

Products to give “delay-sensitive data preferential treatment over other traffic. The switch services 

traffic in the strict-priority transmit queue before servicing the nonpriority queues. After 

transmitting a packet from a nonpriority queue, the switch checks for traffic in the strict-priority 

queue. If the switch detects traffic in the strict-priority queue, it suspends its service of the 

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nonpriority queue and completes service of all traffic in the strict-priority queue before returning 

to the nonpriority queue.”21 

110. The Cisco ‘431 Products use buffers to limit jitter which is delay variance. This 

process is described in the following excerpt from Cisco’s documentation.

Cisco Catalyst 6500/6800 Sup2T System QOS Architecture, CISCO WHITE PAPER at 6 (2017) 

(emphasis added).

111. Cisco has directly infringed and continues to directly infringe the ‘431 patent by, 

among other things, making, using, offering for sale, and/or selling technology for managing data 

traffic comprising a plurality of micro-flows through a network, including but not limited to the 

Cisco ‘431 Products. 

112. The Cisco ‘431 Products are available to businesses and individuals throughout the 

United States.

113. The Cisco ‘431 Products are provided to businesses and individuals located in the 

Western District of Texas.

114. By making, using, testing, offering for sale, and/or selling products and services for 

managing data traffic comprising a plurality of micro-flows through a network, including but not 

limited to the Cisco ‘431 Products, Cisco has injured Plaintiffs and is liable to Plaintiffs for directly 

 21 Release 15.2SY Supervisor Engine 2T Software Configuration Guide, CISCO SUPPORT 

DOCUMENTATION (February 13, 2019), available at: 

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/ios/15-2SY/config_guide.

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infringing one or more claims of the ‘431 patent, including at least claim 1 pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 

§ 271(a).

115. Cisco also indirectly infringes the ‘431 patent by actively inducing infringement 

under 35 USC § 271(b).

116. Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘431 patent since at least service of this Complaint 

or shortly thereafter, and Cisco knew of the ‘431 patent and knew of its infringement, including 

by way of this lawsuit.

117. Alternatively, Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘431 patent since at least August 10, 

2010, when U.S. Patent No. 7,773,610, which is owned by Cisco and cites the ‘431 patent as 

relevant prior art, was issued.

118. Cisco intended to induce patent infringement by third-party customers and users of 

the Cisco ‘431 Products and had knowledge that the inducing acts would cause infringement or 

was willfully blind to the possibility that its inducing acts would cause infringement. Cisco

specifically intended and was aware that the normal and customary use of the accused products

would infringe the ‘431 patent. Cisco performed the acts that constitute induced infringement, and 

would induce actual infringement, with knowledge of the ‘431 patent and with the knowledge that 

the induced acts would constitute infringement. For example, Cisco provides the Cisco ‘431

Products that have the capability of operating in a manner that infringe one or more of the claims 

of the ‘431 patent, including at least claim 1, and Cisco further provides documentation and 

training materials that cause customers and end users of the Cisco ‘431 Products to utilize the 

products in a manner that directly infringe one or more claims of the ‘431 patent.22 By providing

 22 See, e.g., Shawn Wargo, Catalyst 6800 Switch Architectures, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION 

BRKARC-3465 (2015); Release 15.2SY Supervisor Engine 2T Software Configuration Guide,

CISCO SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION (February 13, 2019); SISCO CATALYST 6500/6800 SUP2T

SYSTEM QOS ARCHITECTURE WHITE PAPER (2017); Supervisor Engine 6T Software 

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instruction and training to customers and end-users on how to use the Cisco ‘431 Products in a 

manner that directly infringes one or more claims of the ‘431 patent, including at least claim 1, 

Cisco specifically intended to induce infringement of the ‘431 patent. Cisco engaged in such 

inducement to promote the sales of the Cisco ‘431 Products, e.g., through Cisco user manuals, 

product support, marketing materials, and training materials to actively induce the users of the 

accused products to infringe the ‘431 patent. Accordingly, Cisco has induced and continues to 

induce users of the accused products to use the accused products in their ordinary and customary 

way to infringe the ‘431 patent, knowing that such use constitutes infringement of the ‘431 patent.

119. The ‘431 patent is well-known within the industry as demonstrated by multiple 

citations to the ‘431 patent in published patents and patent applications assigned to technology 

companies and academic institutions. Cisco is utilizing the technology claimed in the ‘431 patent 

without paying a reasonable royalty. Cisco is infringing the ‘431 patent in a manner best described 

as willful, wanton, malicious, in bad faith, deliberate, consciously wrongful, flagrant, or 

characteristic of a pirate.

120. To the extent applicable, the requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 287(a) have been met 

with respect to the ‘431 patent.

121. As a result of Cisco’s infringement of the ‘431 patent, Plaintiffs have suffered 

monetary damages, and seek recovery in an amount adequate to compensate for Cisco’s 

infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by 

Cisco together with interest and costs as fixed by the Court.

 

Configuration Guide, Release 15.5SY, CISCO SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION (September 2019); 

Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Virtual Switching System, CISCO WHITE PAPER (December 2012); 

Release Notes for Cisco IOS Release 15.1SY, CISCO DOCUMENTATION (February 19, 2020); 

Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Supervisor Engine 6T Data Sheet, CISCO DATA SHEET (April 15, 

2019); and Supervisor Engine (Sup6T) Installation, CISCO YOUTUBE CHANNEL (November 17, 

2016), available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xkfJaQhGuw.

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COUNT II

INFRINGEMENT OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,977,932

122. Plaintiffs reference and incorporate by reference the preceding paragraphs of this 

Complaint as if fully set forth herein.

123. Cisco designs, makes, uses, sells, and/or offers for sale in the United States products 

and/or services utilizing a router capable of network tunneling utilizing flow state information. 

124. Cisco designs, makes, sells, offers to sell, imports, and/or uses the following 

products: Cisco Catalyst 6500 E-Series with Catalyst Supervisor Engine 2T or 2T-XL (including 

at least models 6503-E, 6504-E, 6506-E, 6509-E, 6509-V-E, and 6513-E); Cisco Catalyst 6800 

Series with Supervisor Engine 2T or 2T-XL (including at least model 6807-XL); Cisco Catalyst 

7600 Series with Supervisor Engine 2T or 2T-XL (including at least models 7604, 7606-S, 7609-

S, and 7613-S); Cisco Catalyst 6500 E-Series with Supervisor Engine 6T (including at least models 

6503-E, 6504-E, 6506-E, 6509-E, 6509-V-E, and 6513-E); and the Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series 

with Supervisor Engine 6T (including at least model 6807-XL) (collectively, the “Cisco '932 

Products(s)”).

125. One or more Cisco subsidiaries and/or affiliates use the Cisco ‘932 Products in 

regular business operations.

126. One or more of the Cisco ‘932 Products perform the step of creating a flow block 

having flow state information for a receive first data packet on a micro-flow. The below excerpt 

from Cisco documentation describes that the “first unique packet creates a flow.”

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Introduction to Cisco IOS NetFlow, CISCO WHITE PAPER at 5 (May 2012).

127. The Cisco ‘932 Products further include functionality wherein the receipt of a “Key 

Field” triggers the creation of a new “Flow Entry” in the “Flow Record.” The below excerpt from 

Cisco’s documentation of the ‘932 Products show the process in which packets from a flow are 

processed to create a “Flow Entry” in the “Flow Record.”

Shawn Wargo, Catalyst 6800 Switch Architecture, CISCO PRESENTATION SESSION NO. BRKARC3465 at 130 (2016) (“Key Fields trigger the creation of a new Flow entry every time their value 

change”).

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128. One or more of the Cisco ‘932 Products include a router capable of network 

tunneling utilizing flow state information.

129. The Cisco ‘932 Products include functionality wherein a packet can be identified 

and the inner and/or outer header can be marked upon encapsulation.

Cisco Catalyst 6500/6800 Sup2T System QOS Architecture, CISCO WHITE PAPER at 21 (2017) 

(emphasis added).

130. Cisco has directly infringed and continues to directly infringe the ‘932 patent by, 

among other things, making, using, offering for sale, and/or selling technology incorporating a 

router capable of network tunneling utilizing flow state information. 

131. One or more of the Cisco ‘932 Products comprise a router containing an aggregate 

flow block having tunnel specific information for a particular network tunnel. For example, the 

Cisco ‘932 Products support the use of an aggregate policies that have specific information 

regarding VLAN, tunnels or port interfaces as shown in the below excerpt from Cisco 

documentation.

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SUPERVISOR ENGINE 6T SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION GUIDE, RELEASE 15.5SY at 25-5 (September 

2019) (emphasis added).

132. One or more of the Cisco ‘932 Products comprise a router containing a flow block 

having flow state information for a micro-flow, the flow block further including an identifier that 

associates the flow block with the aggregate flow block. Cisco documentation states that “one of 

the biggest benefits” is the ability “to account for packets that are encapsulated or de-encapsulated 

from tunnels.”

Cisco Catalyst 6500 Supervisor 2T Architecture, CISCO WHITEPAPER at 28 (2011) (emphasis 

added).

133. One or more of the Cisco ‘932 Products comprise a router wherein the aggregate 

flow block stores statistics for the particular network tunnel.

134. The Cisco ‘932 Products are available to businesses and individuals throughout the 

United States.

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135. The Cisco ‘932 Products are provided to businesses and individuals located in the 

Western District of Texas.

136. By making, using, testing, offering for sale, and/or selling products utilizing a 

router capable of network tunneling utilizing flow state information, including but not limited to 

the Cisco ‘932 Products, Cisco has injured Plaintiffs and is liable to Plaintiffs for directly 

infringing one or more claims of the ‘932 patent, including at least claim 9 pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 

§ 271(a).

137. Cisco also indirectly infringes the ‘932 patent by actively inducing infringement 

under 35 USC § 271(b).

138. Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘932 patent since at least service of this Complaint 

or shortly thereafter, and Cisco knew of the ‘932 patent and knew of its infringement, including 

by way of this lawsuit.

139. Alternatively, Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘932 patent since at least July 20, 

2010, based on its citation of the ‘932 patent as relevant prior art in three patents that are assigned 

to and owned by Cisco. These patents include:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,760,636 (assigned to Cisco and issued on July 20, 2010).

• U.S. Patent No. 8,077,721 (assigned to Cisco and issued on December 13, 2011).

• U.S. Patent No. 8,493,867 (assigned to Cisco and issued on July 23, 2013).

140. Cisco intended to induce patent infringement by third-party customers and users of 

the Cisco ‘932 Products and had knowledge that the inducing acts would cause infringement or 

was willfully blind to the possibility that its inducing acts would cause infringement. Cisco

specifically intended and was aware that the normal and customary use of the accused products 

would infringe the ‘932 patent. Cisco performed the acts that constitute induced infringement, and 

would induce actual infringement, with knowledge of the ‘932 patent and with the knowledge that 

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the induced acts would constitute infringement. For example, Cisco provides the Cisco ‘932

Products that have the capability of operating in a manner that infringe one or more of the claims 

of the ‘932 patent, including at least claim 9, and Cisco further provides documentation and 

training materials that cause customers and end users of the Cisco ‘932 Products to utilize the 

products in a manner that directly infringe one or more claims of the ‘932 patent.23 By providing 

instruction and training to customers and end-users on how to use the Cisco ‘932 Products in a 

manner that directly infringes one or more claims of the ‘932 patent, including at least claim 9, 

Cisco specifically intended to induce infringement of the ‘932 patent. Cisco engaged in such 

inducement to promote the sales of the Cisco ‘932 Products, e.g., through Cisco user manuals, 

product support, marketing materials, and training materials to actively induce the users of the 

accused products to infringe the ‘932 patent. Accordingly, Cisco has induced and continues to 

induce users of the accused products to use the accused products in their ordinary and customary 

way to infringe the ‘932 patent, knowing that such use constitutes infringement of the ‘932 patent.

141. The ‘932 patent is well-known within the industry as demonstrated by multiple 

citations to the ‘932 patent in published patents and patent applications assigned to technology 

companies and academic institutions. Cisco is utilizing the technology claimed in the ‘932 patent 

without paying a reasonable royalty. Cisco is infringing the ‘932 patent in a manner best described 

 23 See, e.g., Introduction to Cisco IOS NetFlow, CISCO WHITE PAPER (May 2012); Cisco Catalyst 

6500 Supervisor 2T Architecture, Cisco Whitepaper (2011); Shawn Wargo, Catalyst 6800 

Switch Architectures, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION BRKARC-3465 (2015); Release 15.2SY 

Supervisor Engine 2T Software Configuration Guide, CISCO SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION

(February 13, 2019); SISCO CATALYST 6500/6800 SUP2T SYSTEM QOS ARCHITECTURE WHITE 

PAPER (2017); Supervisor Engine 6T Software Configuration Guide, Release 15.5SY, CISCO 

SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION (September 2019); Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Virtual Switching 

System, CISCO WHITE PAPER (December 2012); Release Notes for Cisco IOS Release 15.1SY,

CISCO DOCUMENTATION (February 19, 2020); and Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Supervisor 

Engine 6T Data Sheet, CISCO DATA SHEET (April 15, 2019).

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as willful, wanton, malicious, in bad faith, deliberate, consciously wrongful, flagrant, or 

characteristic of a pirate.

142. To the extent applicable, the requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 287(a) have been met 

with respect to the ‘932 patent.

143. As a result of Cisco’s infringement of the ‘932 patent, Plaintiffs have suffered 

monetary damages, and seek recovery in an amount adequate to compensate for Cisco’s 

infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by 

Cisco together with interest and costs as fixed by the Court.

COUNT III

INFRINGEMENT OF U.S. PATENT NO. 7,012,919

144. Plaintiffs reference and incorporate by reference the preceding paragraphs of this 

Complaint as if fully set forth herein.

145. Cisco designs, makes, uses, sells, and/or offers for sale in the United States products 

and/or services for providing an aggregate micro-flow.

146. Cisco designs, makes, sells, offers to sell, imports, and/or uses the following 

products: Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Service Routers (including at least the following 

models ASR 9001, ASR 9006, ASR 9010, ASR 9901, ASR 9904, ASR 9906, ASR 9910, ASR 

9912, and ASR 9922) running the following Cisco IOS XR Software (XR 5.1.x, XR 5.2.x, XR 

5.3.x, XR 6.0.x, XR 6.1.x, XR 6.2.x, XR 6.3.x, XR 6.4.x, XR 6.5.x, XR 6.6.x, XR 6.7.x, XR 7.0.x, 

and XR 7.1.x); Cisco Catalyst 6500 E-Series with Catalyst Supervisor Engine 2T or 2T-XL 

(including at least the following models 6503-E, 6504-E, 6506-E, 6509-E, 6509-V-E, and 6513-

E); Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series with Supervisor Engine 2T or 2T-XL (including at least model 

6807-XL); Cisco Catalyst 7600 Series with Supervisor Engine 2T or 2T-XL (including at least 

models 7604, 7606-S, 7609-S, and 7613-S); Cisco Catalyst 6500 E-Series with Supervisor Engine 

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6T (including at least models 6503-E, 6504-E, 6506-E, 6509-E, 6509-V-E, and 6513-E); and the 

Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series with Supervisor Engine 6T (including at least model 6807-XL) 

(collectively, the “Cisco '919 Products(s)”).

147. One or more Cisco subsidiaries and/or affiliates use the Cisco ‘919 Products in 

regular business operations.

148. One or more of the Cisco ‘919 Products include technology for providing an 

aggregate micro-flow.

149. One or more of the Cisco ‘919 Products define a set of label switched paths

(“LSP”). Specifically, an LSP results from a sequence of hops (Router 0...Router n) through which 

a packet travels from R0 to Rn by means of label switching mechanisms. A label-switched path 

can be determined dynamically (based on normal routing mechanisms), or it can be defined 

explicitly.

CISCO IOS SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION GUIDE, RELEASE 15.0SY: MPLS QOS at 1-2 (January 19, 

2018) (emphasis added).

150. One or more of the Cisco ‘919 Products define a micro-flow comprising a set of 

data packets, the micro-flow having a quality of service type.

151. One or more of the Cisco ‘919 Products select a particular label switched path from 

the defined set of label switched paths based on the quality of service type of the micro-flow. For 

example, the Cisco ‘919 Products use Multiprotocol Label Switching (“MPLS”) to forward 

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packets over ethernet. The Cisco ‘919 Products use label switching in which labels are assigned 

to packets based on groupings or forwarding equivalence classes (“FEC(s)”). The Cisco ‘919 

Products perform a QoS TCAM lookup on incoming data packets. The results of each QoS TCAM 

lookup yield an index that contains policer configuration and policing counters. Incoming labels 

can be aggregate or nonaggregate. An aggregate label indicates that the arriving MPLS or MPLS 

VPN packet is required to be switched through an IP lookup to find the next hop and the outgoing 

interface that will be used. A nonaggregate label indicates that the packet already contains the IP 

next hop information. The label switched paths are stored by the Cisco ‘919 Products and then 

assigned to specific flows using one of the following protocols.

IJsbrand Wijnands and Luc De Ghein, mVPN Deployment Models, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION:

BRKIPM-3017 at 30 (2014).

152. One or more of the Cisco ‘919 Products transmits the micro-flow along the selected 

label switched path, the micro-flow having an associated forwarding equivalence class, the 

forwarding equivalence class defining additional transmission constraints for the micro-flow.

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SUPERVISOR ENGINE 2T SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION GUIDE, RELEASE 15.4SY at 69-13 (March 

2019) (emphasis added) (“With PFC QoS enabled and all other PFC QoS parameters at default 

values, PFC QoS sets Layer 3 DSCP to zero (untrusted ports only), Layer 2 CoS to zero, the 

imposed EXP to zero in all traffic transmitted from LAN ports (default is untrusted.”).

153. The Cisco ‘919 Products perform the operation of defining a micro-flow 

comprising a set of data packets, the micro-flow having a quality of service type. For example, 

the Cisco ‘919 Products support “Microflow policing based on individual label flows for a 

particular EXP value.”

RELEASE 15.3SY SUPERVISOR ENGINE 6T SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION GUIDE – MPLS QOS

(March 19, 2019), available at: 

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/ios/15-3SY/config_guide/

154. Further for each packet that is incoming the packet is assigned to a flow based on 

the header information (EXP) value resulting from the quality of service decision. The EXP value 

is then copied into the MPLS EXP field in the label header.

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CISCO IOS SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION GUIDE, RELEASE 15.0SY at 1-6 (2018) (emphasis added).

155. The Cisco ‘919 Products are available to businesses and individuals throughout the 

United States.

156. The Cisco ‘919 Products are provided to businesses and individuals located in the 

Western District of Texas.

157. Cisco has directly infringed and continues to directly infringe the ‘919 patent by, 

among other things, making, using, offering for sale, and/or selling technology for providing an 

aggregate micro-flow, including but not limited to the Cisco ‘919 Products. 

158. By making, using, testing, offering for sale, and/or selling products and services, 

including but not limited to the Cisco ‘919 Products, Cisco has injured Plaintiffs and is liable for 

directly infringing one or more claims of the ‘919 patent, including at least claim 1, pursuant to 35 

U.S.C. § 271(a).

159. Cisco also indirectly infringes the ‘919 patent by actively inducing infringement 

under 35 USC § 271(b).

160. Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘919 patent since at least service of this Complaint 

or shortly thereafter, and Cisco knew of the ‘919 patent and knew of its infringement, including 

by way of this lawsuit.

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161. Alternatively, Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘919 patent since at least August 12, 

2008, based on its citation of the ‘919 patent as relevant prior art in four patents that are assigned 

to and owned by Cisco. These patents include:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,411,965 (assigned to Cisco and issued on August 12, 2008).

• U.S. Patent No. 7,580,351 (assigned to Cisco and issued on August 25, 2009).

• U.S. Patent No. 8,868,775 (assigned to Cisco and issued on October 21, 2014).

• U.S. Patent No. 9,013,985 (assigned to Cisco and issued on April 21, 2015).

162. Cisco intended to induce patent infringement by third-party customers and users of 

the Cisco ‘919 Products and had knowledge that the inducing acts would cause infringement or 

was willfully blind to the possibility that its inducing acts would cause infringement. Cisco

specifically intended and was aware that the normal and customary use of the accused products 

would infringe the ‘919 patent. Cisco performed the acts that constitute induced infringement, and 

would induce actual infringement, with knowledge of the ‘919 patent and with the knowledge that 

the induced acts would constitute infringement. For example, Cisco provides the Cisco ‘919

Products that have the capability of operating in a manner that infringe one or more of the claims 

of the ‘919 patent, including at least claim 1, and Cisco further provides documentation and 

training materials that cause customers and end users of the Cisco ‘919 Products to utilize the 

products in a manner that directly infringe one or more claims of the ‘919 patent.24 By providing 

 24 See, e.g., IJsbrand Wijnands and Luc De Ghein, mVPN Deployment Models, CISCO LIVE

PRESENTATION: BRKIPM-3017 (2014); SUPERVISOR ENGINE 2T SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION 

GUIDE, RELEASE 15.4SY 69-13 (March 2019); RELEASE 15.3SY SUPERVISOR ENGINE 6T

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION GUIDE – MPLS QOS (March 19, 2019), available at: 

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/ios/15-

3SY/config_guide/sup6T/15_3_sy_swcg_6T/mplsqos.html; Sabyasachi Kar & Shashi Shekhar 

Sharma, Next Generation Multicast VPN & Advanced Design, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION 

LTRMPL-3103 (2017); CISCO ASR 9000 SERIES AGGREGATION SERVICES ROUTER MPLS

CONFIGURATION GUIDE, RELEASE 5.3.X (August 1, 2015); CISCO ASR 9000 SERIES 

AGGREGATION SERVICES ROUTER ROUTING CONFIGURATION GUIDE,RELEASE 6.1.X (November 

2, 2016); MPLS CONFIGURATION GUIDE FOR CISCO ASR 9000 SERIES ROUTERS, IOS XR

RELEASE 6.5.X (September 30, 2019); ASR 9000 Operation & Troubleshooting, CISCO LIVE 

PRESENTATION TECSPG-3001 (2015); CISCO IOS SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION GUIDE,

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instruction and training to customers and end-users on how to use the Cisco ‘919 Products in a 

manner that directly infringes one or more claims of the ‘919 patent, including at least claim 1, 

Cisco specifically intended to induce infringement of the ‘919 patent. Cisco engaged in such 

inducement to promote the sales of the Cisco ‘919 Products, e.g., through Cisco user manuals, 

product support, marketing materials, and training materials to actively induce the users of the 

accused products to infringe the ‘919 patent. Accordingly, Cisco has induced and continues to 

induce users of the accused products to use the accused products in their ordinary and customary 

way to infringe the ‘919 patent, knowing that such use constitutes infringement of the ‘919 patent.

163. The ‘919 patent is well-known within the industry as demonstrated by multiple 

citations to the ‘919 patent in published patents and patent applications assigned to technology 

companies and academic institutions. Cisco is utilizing the technology claimed in the ‘919 patent 

without paying a reasonable royalty. Cisco is infringing the ‘919 patent in a manner best described 

as willful, wanton, malicious, in bad faith, deliberate, consciously wrongful, flagrant, or 

characteristic of a pirate.

164. To the extent applicable, the requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 287(a) have been met 

with respect to the ‘919 patent.

165. As a result of Cisco’s infringement of the ‘919 patent, Plaintiffs have suffered 

monetary damages, and seek recovery in an amount adequate to compensate for Cisco’s 

infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by 

Cisco together with interest and costs as fixed by the Court.

 

RELEASE 15.0SY: MPLS QOS (January 19, 2018); Cisco Tech Talk: Traffic Flow Comparison 

Between Full-Tunnel and Split-Tunnel Modes in PPTP VPN, CISCO YOUTUBE.COM CHANNEL

(last visited April 2020), available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyjRZ-y5Tco; and 

Cisco QoS: Design and Best Practices for Enterprise Networks, YOUTUBE.COM WEBSITE 

(December 16, 2013), available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xePZcobaJUY 

(presented by Ken Briley technical lead at Cisco).

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COUNT IV

INFRINGEMENT OF U.S. PATENT NO. 7,428,209

166. Plaintiffs reference and incorporate by reference the preceding paragraphs of this 

Complaint as if fully set forth herein.

167. Cisco designs, makes, uses, sells, and/or offers for sale in the United States products 

and/or services for implementing within a network router a method for recovering from a failure. 

168. Cisco designs, makes, sells, offers to sell, imports, and/or uses Cisco ASR 9000 

Series Aggregation Services Routers (including at least models ASR 9001, ASR 9006, ASR 9010, 

ASR 9901, ASR 9904, ASR 9906, ASR 9910, ASR 9912, and ASR 9922) (collectively, the "Cisco 

'209 Product(s)").

169. One or more Cisco subsidiaries and/or affiliates use the Cisco ‘209 Products in 

regular business operations.

170. One or more of the Cisco ‘209 Products include technology for implementing 

within a network router a method for recovering from a failure.

171. One or more of the Cisco ‘209 Products use bidirectional forwarding detection 

(“BFD”) to determine if an external failure has occurred. An external failure detected through 

BFD is a Fast Reroute (“FRR”) trigger. The below excerpt from Cisco documentation describes 

that the Cisco ‘209 Products use FRR which sends a notification to the router “headend.” This 

notification can be made by the Cisco ‘209 Products through an interior gateway protocol (“IGP”) 

or through Cisco’s resource reservation protocol (“RSVP”). 

Fast Reroute (FRR) provides link protection to LSPs enabling the traffic carried by 

LSPs that encounter a failed link to be rerouted around the failure. The reroute 

decision is controlled locally by the router connected to the failed link. The headend 

router on the tunnel is notified of the link failure through IGP or through RSVP. 

When it is notified of a link failure, the headend router attempts to establish a new 

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LSP that bypasses the failure. This provides a path to reestablish links that fail, 

providing protection to data transfer.

MPLS CONFIGURATION GUIDE FOR CISCO ASR 9000 SERIES ROUTERS, IOS XR RELEASE 6.5.X at 

182 (September 30, 2019).

172. One or more of the Cisco ‘209 Products include technology for sending, via a first 

route, a first set of information from an ingress module to a first egress module for forwarding by 

said first egress module to a destination external to said router, wherein said first set of information 

traverses a path which encompasses at least a portion of said first route. The following excerpt 

from a Cisco presentation regarding the Cisco ‘209 Products shows the process in which a first set 

of information multicast “per-flow” information is sent from the Ingress Linecard through the 

fabric and then onto the Egress Linecard.

Yongzhong Peng, Cisco ASR 9000 System Architecture, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION BRKARC2003 at 27 (2019) (emphasis added).

173. One or more of the Cisco ‘209 Products include technology for detecting an 

external failure beyond the first egress module. For example, the Cisco ‘209 Products include 

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bidirectional forwarding detection which is a protocol that detects an external failure such as if a 

“neighbor is lost.”

CISCO ASR 9000 SERIES AGGREGATION SERVICES ROUTER MPLS CONFIGURATION GUIDE,

RELEASE 5.3.X at 186 (August 1, 2015) (emphasis added)

174. One or more of the Cisco ‘209 Products include technology for directing a message 

to the ingress module informing the ingress module of the external failure in response to the 

external failure.

MPLS CONFIGURATION GUIDE FOR CISCO ASR 9000 SERIES ROUTERS, IOS XR RELEASE 6.5.X at 

187 (September 30, 2019).

175. One or more of the Cisco ‘209 Products include technology for selecting an 

alternate egress module capable of forwarding information to the destination in response to the 

message.

176. One or more of the Cisco ‘209 Products include technology for sending, via a 

second route, a future set of information from the ingress module to the alternate egress module 

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for forwarding to the destination, wherein the first set of information and the future set of 

information are both part of a flow.

177. One or more of the Cisco ‘209 Products include technology for causing other sets 

of information associated with the flow to be sent from the ingress module to the alternate egress 

module in response to the message.

178. One or more of the Cisco ‘209 Products include technology for directing to the 

ingress module that comprises: (1) identifying the ingress module; (2) accessing a routing table 

which comprises one or more routes to the ingress module; (3) obtaining a return route from the 

routing table, wherein the return route directs the message to the ingress module along a different 

path than that traversed by said first set of information; and (4) sending a message to the ingress 

module via the return route.

179. One or more of the Cisco ‘209 Products include technology where the first egress 

module and the alternate egress module are predetermined, where identifiers associated with the 

first egress module and the alternate egress module are stored within a flow block associated with 

the flow. Further, one or more of the Cisco ‘209 Products store an indication in the flow block 

that all sets of information associated with the flow are to be sent to the alternate egress module.

180. Cisco has directly infringed and continues to directly infringe the ‘209 patent by, 

among other things, making, using, offering for sale, and/or selling technology for implementing 

within a network router a method for recovering from a failure, including but not limited to the 

Cisco ‘209 Products. 

181. The Cisco ‘209 Products are available to businesses and individuals throughout the 

United States.

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182. The Cisco ‘209 Products are provided to businesses and individuals located in the 

Western District of Texas.

183. By making, using, testing, offering for sale, and/or selling products and services for 

implementing within a network router a method for recovering from a failure, including but not 

limited to the Cisco ‘209 Products, Cisco has injured Plaintiffs and is liable to Plaintiffs for directly 

infringing one or more claims of the ‘209 patent, including at least claim 5 pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 

§ 271(a).

184. Cisco also indirectly infringes the ‘209 patent by actively inducing infringement 

under 35 USC § 271(b).

185. Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘209 patent since at least service of this Complaint 

or shortly thereafter, and Cisco knew of the ‘209 patent and knew of its infringement, including 

by way of this lawsuit.

186. Alternatively, Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘209 patent since at least September 

6, 2007, based on its citation of the ‘209 patent as relevant prior art in eleven patents and patent 

applications that are assigned to and owned by Cisco. These patents include:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,940,648 (assigned to Cisco and issued on May 10, 2011).

• U.S. Patent No. 8,116,289 (assigned to Cisco and issued on February 14, 2012).

• U.S. Patent No. 8,432,790 (assigned to Cisco and issued on April 30, 2013).

• U.S. Patent No. 8,543,718 (assigned to Cisco and issued on September 24, 2013).

• U.S. Patent No. 8,966,113 (assigned to Cisco and issued on February 24, 2015).

• U.S. Patent No. 9,300,563 (assigned to Cisco and issued on March 29, 2016).

• U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0207591 (assigned to Cisco and published on 

September 6, 2007).

• U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0208871 (assigned to Cisco and published on 

September 6, 2007).

• U.S. Patent Application No. 2008/0037419 (assigned to Cisco and published on 

February 14, 2008).

• U.S. Patent Application No. 2008/0056282 (assigned to Cisco and published on 

March 6, 2008).

• U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0141880 (assigned to Cisco and published on 

June 16, 2011).

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187. Cisco intended to induce patent infringement by third-party customers and users of 

the Cisco ‘209 Products and had knowledge that the inducing acts would cause infringement or 

was willfully blind to the possibility that its inducing acts would cause infringement. Cisco

specifically intended and was aware that the normal and customary use of the accused products 

would infringe the ‘209 patent. Cisco performed the acts that constitute induced infringement, and 

would induce actual infringement, with knowledge of the ‘209 patent and with the knowledge that 

the induced acts would constitute infringement. For example, Cisco provides the Cisco ‘209

Products that have the capability of operating in a manner that infringe one or more of the claims 

of the ‘209 patent, including at least claim 5, and Cisco further provides documentation and 

training materials that cause customers and end users of the Cisco ‘209 Products to utilize the 

products in a manner that directly infringe one or more claims of the ‘209 patent.25 By providing 

instruction and training to customers and end-users on how to use the Cisco ‘209 Products in a 

manner that directly infringes one or more claims of the ‘209 patent, including at least claim 5, 

Cisco specifically intended to induce infringement of the ‘209 patent. Cisco engaged in such 

inducement to promote the sales of the Cisco ‘209 Products, e.g., through Cisco user manuals, 

product support, marketing materials, and training materials to actively induce the users of the 

accused products to infringe the ‘209 patent. Accordingly, Cisco has induced and continues to 

induce users of the accused products to use the accused products in their ordinary and customary 

way to infringe the ‘209 patent, knowing that such use constitutes infringement of the ‘209 patent.

 25See, e.g., Sabyasachi Kar & Shashi Shekhar Sharma, Next Generation Multicast VPN & 

Advanced Design, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION LTRMPL-3103 (2017); CISCO ASR 9000 SERIES 

AGGREGATION SERVICES ROUTER MPLS CONFIGURATION GUIDE, RELEASE 5.3.X (August 1, 

2015); CISCO ASR 9000 SERIES AGGREGATION SERVICES ROUTER ROUTING CONFIGURATION 

GUIDE,RELEASE 6.1.X (November 2, 2016); MPLSCONFIGURATION GUIDE FOR CISCO ASR9000

SERIES ROUTERS, IOS XR RELEASE 6.5.X (September 30, 2019); ASR 9000 Operation & 

Troubleshooting, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION TECSPG-3001 (2015); and CISCO IOS SOFTWARE 

CONFIGURATION GUIDE, RELEASE 15.0SY: MPLS QOS (January 19, 2018).

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188. The ‘209 patent is well-known within the industry as demonstrated by multiple 

citations to the ‘209 patent in published patents and patent applications assigned to technology 

companies and academic institutions. Cisco is utilizing the technology claimed in the ‘209 patent 

without paying a reasonable royalty. Cisco is infringing the ‘209 patent in a manner best described 

as willful, wanton, malicious, in bad faith, deliberate, consciously wrongful, flagrant, or 

characteristic of a pirate.

189. To the extent applicable, the requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 287(a) have been met 

with respect to the ‘209 patent.

190. As a result of Cisco’s infringement of the ‘209 patent, Plaintiffs have suffered 

monetary damages, and seek recovery in an amount adequate to compensate for Cisco’s 

infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by 

Cisco together with interest and costs as fixed by the Court.

COUNT V

INFRINGEMENT OF U.S. PATENT NO. 8,085,775

191. Plaintiffs reference and incorporate by reference the preceding paragraphs of this 

Complaint as if fully set forth herein.

192. Cisco designs, makes, uses, sells, and/or offers for sale in the United States products 

and/or services for identifying and handling a single application flow of a plurality of information 

packets. 

193. Cisco designs, makes, sells, offers to sell, imports, and/or uses routers containing 

Cisco’s Application Visibility and Control functionality, including at least the following routers: 

Cisco 800 Series Industrial Integrated Services Routers, Cisco 900 Series Industrial Routers, Cisco 

900 Series Integrated Services Routers, Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers, Cisco 4000 

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Series Integrated Services Routers, Cisco Cloud Services Router 1000V Series, and Cisco ASR 

1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (collectively, the “Cisco '775 Products(s)”).

194. One or more Cisco subsidiaries and/or affiliates use the Cisco ‘775 Products in 

regular business operations.

195. One or more of the Cisco ‘775 Products include technology for identifying and 

handling a single application flow of a plurality of information packets. For example, the Cisco 

‘775 Products contain functionality for extracting information from an HTTP packet to identify an 

application flow.

Karthik Dakshinamoorthy, Application Visibility and Control in Enterprise WAN Application 

Visibility, Monitoring, Troubleshooting & Manageability, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION BRKAPP2030 at 16 (2015).

196. Cisco has directly infringed and continues to directly infringe the ‘775 patent by, 

among other things, making, using, offering for sale, and/or selling technology for identifying and 

handling a single application flow of a plurality of information packets, including but not limited 

to the Cisco ‘775 Products. 

197. One or more of the Cisco ‘775 Products creates a flow block as the first packet of 

a flow is processed by a router. The following except from a Cisco presentation shows the 

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functionality for the Cisco ‘775 Products creating a “Flow Table” when the first packet of a flow 

is processed.

Tarunesh Ahuja, Prioritize Applications with Application Visibility and Control in Campus 

Network, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION BRKCRS-1510 rat 17 (2016) (emphasis added).

198. One or more of the Cisco ‘775 Products utilize a flow block adapted to store 

payload-content agnostic behavioral statistics about the flow. For example, the Cisco ‘775 

products generate flow based identifiers for the packets based on fields that are no with the payload 

of the packet. The below excerpt from a Cisco presentation on Cisco’s Application Visibility and 

Control (“AVC”) functionality shows that the information collected and export to AVC is based 

on traffic flow information and application statistics such as byte and packet count.

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AVC Solution Guide with Cisco Prime Infrastructure, CISCO SOLUTION OVERVIEW at 8 (2015).

199. One or more of the Cisco ‘775 Products update the flow block with the flow’s 

payload-content agnostic behavioral statistics as packets belonging to the flow are processed by 

the router. For example, the payload-content agnostic behavioral statistics that are calculated by 

the Cisco ‘775 Products include the total byte count accumulated for the flow which is shown in 

the below excerpt from Cisco’s documentation of the Cisco ‘775 Products.

Karthik Dakshinamoorthy, Application Visibility and Control in Enterprise WAN Application 

Visibility, Monitoring, Troubleshooting & Manageability, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION BRKAPP2030 at 48 (2015).

200. One or more of the Cisco ‘775 Products utilize a flow incapable of being identified 

by header information alone. For example, the below Flexible Flow Record used by Cisco AVC 

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shows the flow cannot be identified by header information alone. Instead, the identity of the flow 

must be processed using a heuristic analysis to identify the identity of the flow (the application 

type of the flow).

Benoit Claise, Advanced NetFlow, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION BRKNMS-3132 at 30 (2015).

201. One or more of the Cisco ‘775 Products heuristically determine whether at least 

one user-specified policy is satisfied by the payload-content agnostic behavioral statistics stored 

in the flow block. For example, the Cisco ‘775 Products use a heuristic analysis to identify 

applications regardless of the ports on which the applications may be running. This process is 

described in the below excerpt from Cisco’s documentation of the ‘775 Products.

AVC Solution Guide with Cisco Prime Infrastructure, CISCO SOLUTION OVERVIEW at 10 (2015)

(emphasis added).

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202. The Cisco ‘775 Products can heuristically determine whether at least one userspecified policy is satisfied by said payload-content agnostic behavioral statistics stored in a flow 

block where the flow payload is encrypted. For example, when a web-based application is opened 

in a browser, the browser first communicates with a DNS server to request the IP address of the 

relevant server for the application. The DNS transaction consists of a request and response; the 

response contains the IP address of the server for the web-based application. This payload content 

agnostic behavioral information is stored in the flow block. The Cisco ‘775 Products then contain 

functionality to use this information to correctly associate the web-based application with the 

relevant server IP address. The Cisco ‘775 Products can then identify future traffic involving that 

IP address from the first packet of the flow. The below excerpt from a Cisco presentation on the 

Cisco ‘775 Products substantiates the heuristic determination of a flow identity based on payloadcontent agnostic behavior. 

Tarunesh Ahuja, Prioritize Applications with Application Visibility and Control in Campus 

Network, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION BRKCRS-1510 at 13 (2016) (emphasis added).

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203. One or more of the Cisco ‘775 Products apply to at least one packet belonging to at 

least one user-specified action that is mapped to the user-specified policy that is satisfied by the 

payload-content agnostic behavioral statistics upon determining that the user-specified policy is 

satisfied by the payload-content agnostic behavioral statistics.

204. One or more of the Cisco ‘775 Products include functionality wherein the payloadcontent agnostic behavioral statistics for the flow are calculated by the router. The below excerpt 

from a Cisco user guide for the Cisco ‘775 Product shows one instance where the behavioral 

statistics are calculated by a router.

CISCO APPLICATION VISIBILITY AND CONTROL USER GUIDE at 4-7 (December 2018). 

205. One or more of the Cisco ‘775 Products include functionality wherein the payloadcontent agnostic behavioral statistics reflect the empirical behavior of the flow. The below excerpt 

from Cisco documentation shows that the statistics calculated by the Cisco ‘775 Products include 

empirical behavior such as “packet count,” “byte count,” and “average packet size.” 

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CONSOLIDATED PLATFORM CONFIGURATION GUIDE, CISCO IOS XE 3.3SE at 10 (2013) (emphasis 

added).

206. One or more of the Cisco ‘775 Products include functionality wherein at least one 

of the payload-content agnostic behavioral statistics is chosen from the group consisting of: (1) 

total byte count accumulated for the flow, (2) flow life duration, (3) average rate of flow, (4) 

average packet size, (5) average packet rate, (6) average inter-packet gap, (7) instantaneous flow 

rate, and (8) moving average flow rate.

207. The Cisco ‘775 Products are available to businesses and individuals throughout the 

United States.

208. The Cisco ‘775 Products are provided to businesses and individuals located in the 

Western District of Texas.

209. By making, using, testing, offering for sale, and/or selling products and services for 

identifying and handling a single application flow of a plurality of information packets, including 

but not limited to the Cisco ‘775 Products, Cisco has injured Plaintiffs and is liable to Plaintiffs

for directly infringing one or more claims of the ‘775 patent, including at least claim 1 pursuant to 

35 U.S.C. § 271(a).

210. Cisco also indirectly infringes the ‘775 patent by actively inducing infringement 

under 35 USC § 271(b).

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211. Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘775 patent since at least service of this Complaint 

or shortly thereafter, and Cisco knew of the ‘775 patent and knew of its infringement, including 

by way of this lawsuit.

212. Alternatively, Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘775 patent since at least January 22, 

2015, based on its citation of the ‘775 patent as relevant prior art in four patents and patent 

applications that are assigned to and owned by Cisco. These patents include:

• U.S, Patent No. 9,680,760 (assigned to Cisco and issued on June 13, 2017).

• U.S. Patent No. 10,103,991 (assigned to Cisco and issued on October 16, 2018).

• U.S. Patent Application No. 2015/0023366 (assigned to Cisco and published on 

January 22, 2015).

• U.S. Patent Application. No. 2016/0112323 (assigned to Cisco and published on 

April 21, 2016).

213. Cisco intended to induce patent infringement by third-party customers and users of 

the Cisco ‘775 Products and had knowledge that the inducing acts would cause infringement or 

was willfully blind to the possibility that its inducing acts would cause infringement. Cisco

specifically intended and was aware that the normal and customary use of the accused products 

would infringe the ‘775 patent. Cisco performed the acts that constitute induced infringement, and 

would induce actual infringement, with knowledge of the ‘775 patent and with the knowledge that 

the induced acts would constitute infringement. For example, Cisco provides the Cisco ‘775

Products that have the capability of operating in a manner that infringe one or more of the claims 

of the ‘775 patent, including at least claim 1, and Cisco further provides documentation and 

training materials that cause customers and end users of the Cisco ‘775 Products to utilize the 

products in a manner that directly infringe one or more claims of the ‘775 patent.26 By providing 

 26 See, e.g., Karthik Dakshinamoorthy, Application Visibility and Control in Enterprise WAN 

Application Visibility, Monitoring, Troubleshooting & Manageability, CISCO LIVE 

PRESENTATION BRKAPP-2030 (2015); Benoit Claise, Advanced NetFlow, CISCO LIVE 

PRESENTATION BRKNMS-3132 (2015); Tarunesh Ahuja, Prioritize Applications with 

Application Visibility and Control in Campus Network, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION BRKCRSCase 6:20-cv-00288-ADA Document 1 Filed 04/13/20 Page 57 of 68
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instruction and training to customers and end-users on how to use the Cisco ‘775 Products in a 

manner that directly infringes one or more claims of the ‘775 patent, including at least claim 1, 

Cisco specifically intended to induce infringement of the ‘775 patent. Cisco engaged in such 

inducement to promote the sales of the Cisco ‘775 Products, e.g., through Cisco user manuals, 

product support, marketing materials, and training materials to actively induce the users of the 

accused products to infringe the ‘775 patent. Accordingly, Cisco has induced and continues to 

induce users of the accused products to use the accused products in their ordinary and customary 

way to infringe the ‘775 patent, knowing that such use constitutes infringement of the ‘775 patent.

214. The ‘775 patent is well-known within the industry as demonstrated by multiple 

citations to the ‘775 patent in published patents and patent applications assigned to technology 

companies and academic institutions. Cisco is utilizing the technology claimed in the ‘775 patent 

without paying a reasonable royalty. Cisco is infringing the ‘775 patent in a manner best described 

as willful, wanton, malicious, in bad faith, deliberate, consciously wrongful, flagrant, or 

characteristic of a pirate.

215. To the extent applicable, the requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 287(a) have been met 

with respect to the ‘775 patent.

216. As a result of Cisco’s infringement of the ‘775 patent, Plaintiffs have suffered 

monetary damages, and seek recovery in an amount adequate to compensate for Cisco’s 

infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by 

Cisco together with interest and costs as fixed by the Court.

 

1510 (2016); AVC Solution Guide with Cisco Prime Infrastructure, CISCO SOLUTION OVERVIEW

(2015); AVC Solution Guide with Cisco Prime Infrastructure, CISCO SOLUTION OVERVIEW 

(2015); Application Monitoring Using Net Flow, CISCO TECHNOLOGY DESIGN GUIDE

(December 2013); CISCO APPLICATION VISIBILITY AND CONTROL USER GUIDE (December 

2018); and CONSOLIDATED PLATFORM CONFIGURATION GUIDE, CISCO IOS XE 3.3SE

(CATALYST 3850 SWITCHES) (2013).

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COUNT VI

INFRINGEMENT OF U.S. PATENT NO. 8,817,790

217. Plaintiffs reference and incorporate by reference the preceding paragraphs of this 

Complaint as if fully set forth herein.

218. Cisco designs, makes, uses, sells, and/or offers for sale in the United States products 

and/or services for handling a flow of information packets.

219. Cisco designs, makes, sells, offers to sell, imports, and/or uses routers containing 

Cisco’s Application Visibility and Control functionality including at least the following routers: 

Cisco 800 Series Industrial Integrated Services Routers, Cisco 900 Series Industrial Routers, Cisco 

900 Series Integrated Services Routers, Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers, Cisco 4000 

Series Integrated Services Routers, Cisco Cloud Services Router 1000V Series, and Cisco ASR 

1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (collectively, the “Cisco '790 Products(s)”).

220. One or more Cisco subsidiaries and/or affiliates use the Cisco ‘790 Products in 

regular business operations.

221. One or more of the Cisco ‘790 Products include technology for handling a flow of 

information packets. Specifically, the Cisco ‘790 Product process information packets that have 

the same header information. In the below excerpt from Cisco documentation, the header 

information is generated into a “Flow Key” that is then compared in the “Lookup Table” to 

determine if another information packet had the same header information. If so a match is 

identified and the incoming information packet is assigned to the flow that has the matching 

header.

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at 115 (2015). 

222. The Cisco ‘790 Products are available to businesses and individuals throughout the

United States.

223. The Cisco ‘790 Products are provided to businesses and individuals located in the

Western District of Texas. 

224. Cisco has directly infringed and continues to directly infringe the ‘790 patent by,

among other things, making, using, offering for sale, and/or selling technology for handling a flow 

of information packets, including but not limited to the Cisco ‘790 Products. 

225. The Cisco ‘790 Products process a flow comprised of two or more information

packets having header information in common. Further, the Cisco ‘790 Products use headerindependent statistics for traffic classification. These statistics include bit rate, packet counts, and 

byte counts that are used to identify a particular traffic type. The following excerpt from Cisco 

documentation for the Cisco ‘790 Products shows the ability to conduct traffic classification based 

on statistics that are header-independent. 

Shawn Wargo, Catalyst 6800 Switch Architectures, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION BRKARC-3465 

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Chris Hocker, Innovations and Approaches to Traffic Flow Management, CISCO LIVE

PRESENTATION at 47 (2012). 

226. The Cisco ‘790 Products store header-independent statistics about the flow in a

flow block associated with the flow. Specifically, each time a packet is processed by the Cisco 

‘790 Products, the header-independent data can stored in the NetFlow Data Table and the statistics 

for the flow are updated. Further, the NBAR Protocol Discovery MIB enables the use of per 

interface, per protocol and bi-directional statistics (bit rate (bps), packet counts and byte counts) 

to conduct traffic identification and matching for packets. 

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QOS: NBAR CONFIGURATION GUIDE at 11 (March 22, 2018) (emphasis added).

227. The Cisco ‘790 Products perform traffic matching using header-independent 

statistics such as: total number of input packets, total number of output packets, input bit rates, and 

output bit rates. The following excerpt from Cisco documentation of the Cisco ‘790 Products 

shows the use of these header-independent statistics to perform traffic matching.

QOS: NBAR CONFIGURATION GUIDE at 53 (March 22, 2018) (emphasis added).

228. The Cisco ‘790 Products apply traffic policies to one or more information packets 

belonging to traffic types that are designated as matching a particular traffic type by the user. 

“Traffic that matches a user-specified criterion can be organized into specific classes. The traffic 

in those classes can, in turn, receive specific QoS treatment when that class is included in a policy 

map.”27 

 27 QOS: NBAR CONFIGURATION GUIDE at 122 (March 22, 2018) (emphasis added).

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229. The Cisco ‘790 Products use statistics that are generated by the Cisco ‘790 Products 

to define classes and traffic policies (sometimes referred to as policy maps by Cisco) for each 

traffic class. “The traffic policies (policy maps) are used to apply specific QoS features and 

functionality to the traffic classes.”28

230. The Cisco ‘790 Products update the header-independent statistics in the flow block 

as each information packet belonging to the flow is processed. The header-independent statistics 

are stored in a flow block associated with the flow. Further, the header-independent information 

is stored in a flow block that is associated with the flow. This data is identified as the “NetFlow 

Statistics” and can be stored by the Cisco ‘790 Products in the “Netflow Data Table.”

231. The Cisco ‘790 Products categorize the flow as one or more traffic types by 

determining whether the header-independent statistics match one or more profiles corresponding 

to a traffic type. The Cisco ‘790 Products categorize a flow as a traffic type (e.g., the flow is 

associated with an application) using header independent statistics such as “average rate,” “average 

packet size,” “total byte count,” “duration of the flow,” “flow rate,” etc. The following tables 

show some of the header-independent statists that are used to match a flow to a corresponding 

traffic type.

 28 Id. at 53.

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CISCO APPLICATION VISIBILITY AND CONTROL FIELD DEFINITION GUIDE FOR THIRD-PARTY 

CUSTOMERS at 2-33 (November 29, 2017). 

232. The Cisco ‘790 Products perform an operation that is determined according to the 

one or more traffic types on one or more information packets belonging to the flow if the one or 

more traffic types match one or more particular traffic types designated by a user.

233. By making, using, testing, offering for sale, and/or selling products and services, 

including but not limited to the Cisco ‘790 Products, Cisco has injured Plaintiffs and is liable for 

directly infringing one or more claims of the ‘790 patent, including at least claim 1, pursuant to 35 

U.S.C. § 271(a).

234. Cisco also indirectly infringes the ‘790 patent by actively inducing infringement 

under 35 USC § 271(b).

235. Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘790 patent since at least service of this Complaint 

or shortly thereafter, and Cisco knew of the ‘790 patent and knew of its infringement, including 

by way of this lawsuit.

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236. Alternatively, Cisco has had knowledge of the ‘790 patent since at least January 22, 

2015, based on its citation of the ‘790 patent application as relevant prior two patents and patent 

applications that are assigned to and owned by Cisco. These patents include:

• U.S, Patent No. 9,680,760 (assigned to Cisco and issued on June 13, 2017).

• U.S. Patent Application No. 2015/0023366 (assigned to Cisco and published on 

January 22, 2015).

237. Cisco intended to induce patent infringement by third-party customers and users of 

the Cisco ‘790 Products and had knowledge that the inducing acts would cause infringement or 

was willfully blind to the possibility that its inducing acts would cause infringement. Cisco

specifically intended and was aware that the normal and customary use of the accused products 

would infringe the ‘790 patent. Cisco performed the acts that constitute induced infringement, and 

would induce actual infringement, with knowledge of the ‘790 patent and with the knowledge that 

the induced acts would constitute infringement. For example, Cisco provides the Cisco ‘790

Products that have the capability of operating in a manner that infringe one or more of the claims 

of the ‘790 patent, including at least claim 1, and Cisco further provides documentation and 

training materials that cause customers and end users of the Cisco ‘790 Products to utilize the 

products in a manner that directly infringe one or more claims of the ‘790 patent.29 By providing 

instruction and training to customers and end-users on how to use the Cisco ‘790 Products in a 

 29See, e.g., Karthik Dakshinamoorthy, Application Visibility and Control in Enterprise WAN 

Application Visibility, Monitoring, Troubleshooting & Manageability, CISCO LIVE 

PRESENTATION BRKAPP-2030 (2015); Benoit Claise, Advanced NetFlow, CISCO LIVE 

PRESENTATION BRKNMS-3132 (2015); Tarunesh Ahuja, Prioritize Applications with 

Application Visibility and Control in Campus Network, CISCO LIVE PRESENTATION BRKCRS1510 (2016); AVC Solution Guide with Cisco Prime Infrastructure, CISCO SOLUTION OVERVIEW

(2015); AVC Solution Guide with Cisco Prime Infrastructure, CISCO SOLUTION OVERVIEW 

(2015); Application Monitoring Using Net Flow, CISCO TECHNOLOGY DESIGN GUIDE (December 

2013); CISCO APPLICATION VISIBILITY AND CONTROL USER GUIDE (December 2018); and 

CONSOLIDATED PLATFORM CONFIGURATION GUIDE, CISCO IOS XE 3.3SE (CATALYST 3850

SWITCHES) (2013).

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manner that directly infringes one or more claims of the ‘790 patent, including at least claim 1, 

Cisco specifically intended to induce infringement of the ‘790 patent. Cisco engaged in such 

inducement to promote the sales of the Cisco ‘790 Products, e.g., through Cisco user manuals, 

product support, marketing materials, and training materials to actively induce the users of the 

accused products to infringe the ‘790 patent. Accordingly, Cisco has induced and continues to 

induce users of the accused products to use the accused products in their ordinary and customary 

way to infringe the ‘790 patent, knowing that such use constitutes infringement of the ‘790 patent.

238. The ‘790 patent is well-known within the industry as demonstrated by multiple 

citations to the ‘790 patent in published patents and patent applications assigned to technology 

companies and academic institutions. Cisco is utilizing the technology claimed in the ‘790 patent 

without paying a reasonable royalty. Cisco is infringing the ‘790 patent in a manner best described 

as willful, wanton, malicious, in bad faith, deliberate, consciously wrongful, flagrant, or 

characteristic of a pirate.

239. To the extent applicable, the requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 287(a) have been met 

with respect to the ‘790 patent.

240. As a result of Cisco’s infringement of the ‘790 patent, Plaintiffs have suffered 

monetary damages, and seek recovery in an amount adequate to compensate for Cisco’s 

infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by 

Cisco together with interest and costs as fixed by the Court.

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PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs Sable IP, LLC and Sable Networks, Inc. respectfully request that this 

Court enter:

A. A judgment in favor of Plaintiffs that Cisco has infringed, either literally 

and/or under the doctrine of equivalents, the ‘431, ‘932, ‘919, ‘209, ‘775,

and ‘790 patents;

B. An award of damages resulting from Cisco’s acts of infringement in 

accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 284;

C. A judgment and order finding that Cisco’s infringement was willful, 

wanton, malicious, bad-faith, deliberate, consciously wrongful, flagrant, or 

characteristic of a pirate within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 284 and 

awarding to Plaintiffs enhanced damages.

D. A judgment and order finding that this is an exceptional case within the 

meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 285 and awarding to Plaintiffs their reasonable 

attorneys’ fees against Cisco.

E. Any and all other relief to which Plaintiffs may show themselves to be 

entitled. 

JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

Pursuant to Rule 38 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Plaintiffs Sable IP, LLC and 

Sable Networks, Inc. request a trial by jury of any issues so triable by right.

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Dated: April 13, 2020 Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Daniel P. Hipskind_____________________

Dorian S. Berger (CA SB No. 264424)

Daniel P. Hipskind (CA SB No. 266763)

Eric B. Hanson (CA SB No. 254570)

BERGER & HIPSKIND LLP

9538 Brighton Way, Ste. 320

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Telephone: 323-886-3430

Facsimile: 323-978-5508

E-mail: dsb@bergerhipskind.com

E-mail: dph@bergerhipskind.com

E-mail: ebh@bergerhipskind.com

Elizabeth L. DeRieux

State Bar No. 05770585

Capshaw DeRieux, LLP

114 E. Commerce Ave.

Gladewater, TX 75647

Telephone: 903-845-5770

E-mail: ederieux@capshawlaw.com

Attorneys for Sable Networks, Inc. and 

Sable IP, LLC

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