Level 3 Communications, the money-losing long-distance phone- and data-network operator, has sued Limelight Networks, accusing it of infringing on three patents related to ways to deliver movies and other data over the Web. Limelight, the second-largest maker of software that speeds delivery of Web video, denied the claim and said it will fight the suit. The company’s shares have lost more than half their value since the stock was first sold in June.
The dispute is over a content-delivery network, or CDN, that distributes movies, music and software to computers on behalf of other services. Level 3, based in Broomfield, bought the business from Savvis Inc. last January for $132.5 million.
“Limelight has commercially implemented its CDN based on the inventions disclosed in the Level 3 patents,” Level 3 said Dec. 17 in a complaint in Norfolk, Va.
Bloomberg News
