Juries in the U.S. awarded $1 billion in patent damages last year, almost triple the 2005 amount, as technology companies including Rambus Inc. and TiVo Inc. stepped up their use of the courts to fend off competition.
The number of patent verdicts ranking in the top 50 jury awards jumped to 10 from three in 2005, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Total awards, counting just those of more than $1 million each, rose from $379 million the year before.
Companies are more willing to go to court to protect patents because the stakes are higher as computer and communications technology spreads, said Gregory Stone, a Los Angeles patent lawyer who won a $307 million award, last year’s largest, for Rambus, a designer of computer memory chips.
TiVo won a $74 million verdict against Douglas County-based EchoStar Communications Corp. for infringement of TiVo technology that allows viewers to record one television program while watching another. EchoStar, which denied infringement, has appealed.
Additional business news briefs:
DENVER
Qwest CEO, CFO sell more shares
Qwest chief executive Dick Notebaert has sold 410,800 Qwest shares worth $3.44 million, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday. Also, the company’s chief financial officer, Oren Shaffer, has sold 256,751 Qwest shares worth $2.15 million, a separate filing showed.
In November, Notebaert and Shaffer each exercised more than 3 million stock options and sold the shares. They each made a profit of more than $18 million from the transactions, although Notebaert said he would donate the after-tax proceeds to nonprofits. It’s not known whether Notebaert plans to do the same with the latest sale.
SNOWMASS VILLAGE
Related Cos., WestPac ally to buy base village
New York-based Related Cos. has teamed with WestPac Investments Colorado LLC to form a joint-venture partnership to purchase Snowmass Base Village from Aspen Skiing Co. and Intrawest. The sale is expected to close next month.
The joint venture, known as Related WestPac, will develop the commercial and residential aspects of the village. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The project will bring 1 million square feet of new development to Snowmass, including more than 600 hotel rooms and condominiums.
ATLANTA
Home Depot gives CEO Nardelli the gate
Home Depot, the world’s largest home-improvement retailer, ousted chief executive Robert Nardelli after investors criticized him for earning $225 million while the company’s stock fell during his tenure. Vice chairman Frank Blake, 57, will replace Nardelli.
Home Depot invited further criticism by sending Nardelli, 58, off with $210 million as part of his separation package.
NEW YORK
Adelphia repayment plan wins judge’s OK
Greenwood Village-based Adel phia Communications Corp.’s plan to pay creditors and end one of the biggest bankruptcy cases in U.S. history was approved Wednesday by a federal judge in New York.
Adelphia, once the fifth-biggest U.S. cable-TV company, filed for protection from creditors in June 2002, a month before its founder, John Rigas, was arrested for looting the company.
DOUGLAS COUNTY
Paper: Malone eyeing Rainbow Media
John Malone may be interested in acquiring more pay-TV content. According to a report Wednesday in the New York Post, the Liberty Media Corp. chairman – who now controls DirecTV – is “reaching out” to Cablevision’s Dolan family regarding Rainbow Media, the unit that controls pay-TV content channels such as IFC, AMC and WE.
Cablevision officials declined to comment. Calls to Liberty were not returned Wednesday.
The New York Post reported that the talks have been informal. The Dolans have proposed to take Los Island, N.Y.-based Cablevision private with a $19.2 billion buyout offer.
GREENWOOD VILLAGE
Quovadx settles final ’04 restatement suit
Quovadx Inc., a software and business-services company based in Greenwood Village, announced Wednesday it has settled for $7.8 million the last of three lawsuits that arose from the company’s financial restatement in 2004.
The company will pay the amount by Jan. 15 and, pending court approval, will be absolved from all claims relating to the restatement, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
BROOMFIELD
Level 3 seals up Broadwing purchase
Broomfield-based Level 3 Communications said Wednesday it has completed its acquisition of Broadwing Corp.
In October, Level 3 said it would acquire the fiber-optic communications-network operator for roughly $1.4 billion.
DENVER
Former CRL exec London back at firm
Lobbyist and former CNN reporter Gina London is back in Denver as senior vice president at CRL Associates Inc.
London left CRL a year ago for Cairo, where she served as resident country director of the International Republican Institute until the foreign ministry shut down the program.
DOUGLAS COUNTY
CH2M Hill releases guide to shield water
Douglas County-based engineering and construction giant CH2M Hill has developed and released the first physical security guidelines to protect water and wastewater infrastructure from terrorist and other threats, the company said Wednesday.
The guidelines were developed as a joint effort with the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Water Works Association and funded by the Environmental Protection Agency.
DENVER
DIA’s on-time arrival performance slips
Denver International Airport ranked No. 3 for on-time arrival performance in November, down from No. 2 a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
For the year through November, DIA ranked No. 7 in on-time arrival performance, down from No. 2 the prior year.
BOULDER
Carrier Access expects fourth-quarter loss
Carrier Access Corp., which makes broadband communications equipment, forecast a fourth-quarter loss of 24 to 28 cents a share on sales of $12.3 million to $12.5 million.
