Riverbed Technology, the performance company, today commented on the decision by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to grant reexamination requests for two Riverbed patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,428,573 and 7,849,134. Silver Peak Systems, Inc., which is being sued by Riverbed for infringing both of these patents as well as an additional patent, had earlier announced the USPTO action.

“Reexamination requests are often made, as they were in this instance, by parties accused of infringing the subject patents. And the USPTO has historically granted well over 90% of these reexamination requests, meaning this initial action has become somewhat routine,” said Brett Nissenberg, Riverbed’s general counsel and senior vice president. “It is not surprising that Silver Peak's announcement today failed to mention that Silver Peak still faces the patent infringement trial this September, and the start of USPTO proceedings will have no bearing on the trial's outcome or the validity of the patents at the trial. Unfortunately, Silver Peak's most creative efforts seem to be concentrated in PR and blogging rather than its products.”

Riverbed’s lawsuit against Silver Peak, which was originally filed by Riverbed in June 2011 in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, is scheduled for trial in September 2013. At the trial, Riverbed intends to seek a permanent injunction against Silver Peak’s infringement of Riverbed’s pioneering technology.