Intellectual Property Summary - Optium Corporation (OPTM)
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By: Bruce Bahlmann - Contributing Author (your feedback is important to us!)

Last Update: 11/01/2006

Optium has 15 patents that are of public record including 4 issued patents, 9 pending applications, and 2 abandon applications. Optium has been filing an average of 5 patent applications per year since 2002. The acquisition of Engana expanded the patent portfolio with 2 recently issued patents and 6 applications. The remaining life span of the IP portfolio is from 15 to 17 years for issued patents, with an average life of 16 years. Patents in the pending application stage can expect a 20 year life from filing date once they have issued. The Optium filings focus primarily in the areas of optical transmitters, multi-mode applications, optical filtering, and coupling in line with the company’s core business. 

Optium’s new Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) product line is the subject of a patent application which is currently in prosecution at the patent office. Thus far, much of the patent’s original (preferred) claims have been withdrawn over prior art of JDS Uniphase. While this application has not been rejected by the USPTO (is currently being amended), clearly the opportunity for Optium to obtain a broad/early patent in the field of Add/Drop Multiplexer technology (which is key to its ROADM product line) will be a challenging one. JDS Uniphase is also referenced by another Optium matter which covers Engana’s wavelength selective switch. 

While Optium currently faces two IP lawsuits (one by JDS Uniphase and the other by EMCORE), other public companies, that also have IP in this space, represent a potential threat to Optium including: Alcatel (ALA), Corning (GLW), Lucent (LU), Nortel (NT), NTT, and Zygo Corporation (ZIGO). Based on its IP, it appears that Optium would have the ability to license intellectual property to companies such as Fujitsu and StrataLight Communications. In addition to these public companies, private companies have frequently been referenced by Optium patents including: Agiltron, Avanex Corporation, Bell Communications Research (Telcordia), Chorum Technologies, Communications Research Laboratory, PTS Corporation, Ramar Corporation, Renka Corporation, Tellium, Tera Fiberoptics, StrataLight Communications. These private companies may also represent attractive acquisition targets to Optium – especially PTS which holds key IP in the area of wavelength selective switch. 

According to Optium, their main competition for the 300pin transceiver market includes: Fujitsu, Intel, and Opnext. Their main competition for the XENPAK transceiver market is Agilent, Finisar, Intel, and Opnext. Their main competition in the ROADM market is JDS Uniphase, and in the HFC marketplace they mainly compete with EMCORE. Many of these companies’ patents are referenced by Optium patents. Of these companies, Finisar is a very patent savvy company with nearly 400 issued patents and nearly 800 pending – it recently won a suit against Agilent for 1.1 billion. 

During prosecution of its patent applications, Optium has encountered previously filed or issued patents representing prior art from the likes of: ADC Telecommunications (ADCT), Agiltron, Avanex Corporation, Bell Communications Research, Hitachi, JDS Uniphase (JDSUD). A number of these companies evidently have invested in technology in Optium’s market but are not yet recognized by Optium as a competitor. 

As a manufacturer of optical equipment, Optium seems to have a lack of manufacturing process patents that we would expect to see. This lack of patent coverage could further expose their business to lawsuits from not only technology itself, but also how it is made.  

Research Details: 

The following represents a breakdown of the individual matters that represent the Optium portfolio as it currently stands, the status of each matter, as well as the opposition (prior art) it faced during prosecution and who owned the prior art. 

Intellectual property holdings (issued patents) cover:

• 2 issued patents: US6623188, US7120183
• [7120183] Electra-absorption modulator and laser having electrically controllable absorption (2001)
  • Potential licensees: none
  • Potential conflicts (US): British Telecom, Fujitsu, 2-General Dynamics (GD), Hitachi, Lockheed (LMT), Mitsubishi, 2-NEC, Samsung, 3-SDL, TRW
  • Potential conflicts (Foreign): 2-Hitachi
• [6623188] Dispersion tolerant optical data transmitter that uses a pre-coder (2002)
  • Potential licensees: StrataLight Communications [6804472]
  • Potential conflicts (US): 2-Alcatel (ALA), General Instrument, Integrated Optical Components, Lucent (LU), NEC Corporation, NTT, 2-Northern Telecom (NT), StrataLight Communications
  • Potential conflicts (Foreign): Fujitsu, NTT

• 6 pending published applications: US20050025416A1, US20040218931A1, US20050025500A1, US20050025417A1, US20050036792A1 , US20050025417A1
• [US20050025416A1] Multi-mode fiber link spatial mode converter (2002)
  • Rejected under claims made by Hitachi [5515196]
  • Application was abandoned
• [US20040218931A1] Optical transmitter method of optical signal linearizing (2003)
  • Currently under amendment
  • Non-final rejection because of [6687466] ADC Telecommunications (ADCT)
• [US20050025500A1] Optical transmitter modulator for suppressing phase and sideband info (2003)
  • Currently under amendment
  • Non-final rejection because of [5745613] NEC
• [US20050025416A1] Multi-mode fiber link modal profile (2003)
  • Not yet examined
• [US20050036792A1] Optical transmitter for CATV transmission (2004)
  • Not yet examined
• [US20050025417A1] Multi-mode fiber link modal profile (2004)
  • Not yet examined

Optimum’s Engana Division

Intellectual property holdings (issued patents) cover:

• 2 issued patents: US6901175, US7092599
• [US6901175] Fabry-Perot liquid crystal device separates pre-selected optical signal (2002)
  • Potential licensees:  Fujitsu [7092594]
  • Potential conflicts (US): Agiltron, 3-Bell Communications, 3-Chorum Technologies, Communications Research Laboratory, Corning (GLW), Ramar Corporation, Renka Corporation, Tellium, Tera Fiberoptics
  • Potential conflicts (Foreign): Chorum Technologies
• [US7092599] Wavelength selective switch performs spatial manipulation (2003)
  • Potential licensees: none
  • Potential conflicts (US): 2-Avanex Corporation, JDS Uniphase (JDSUD), Lucent (LU), PTS Corporation, Zygo Corporation (ZIGO)
  • Potential conflicts (Foreign): Proximion Fiber Optics

• 7 pending published applications: US2003161567A1, US2003210727A1, US2005100277A1, US2005276537A1, US2006067611A1, US2006098156A1, US2006193556A1
• [US20030161567A1] Fabry-Perot liquid crystal device separates pre-selected optical signal (2002)
  • Amended, Issued patent [6901175]
  • Non-final rejection because of [6718082] Agiltron, Inc.
• [US20030210727A1] Optical signal filtering method involves utilizing resonant wavelength shift (2002)
  • Application was abandoned
  • Non-final rejection because of [6748140] Avanex Corporation
• [US20050100277A1] Wavelength selective switch performs spatial manipulation (2003)
  • Amended, Issued Patent [7092599]
  • Non-final rejection because of [6766081] Weaver of PTS Corporation
• [US20050276537A1] Optical signal manipulation for dual-source add/drop multiplexer (2004)
  • Currently under amendment
  • Non-final rejection because of [US20030021526A1] Oleg Bouevitch of JDS Uniphase
• [US20060067611A1] Optical coupler for optical phased-matrix coupler (2004)
  • Not yet examined
• [US20060098156A1] Phase distortion compensation involves controlling level of selected pixels (2004)
  • Not yet examined
• [US20060193556A1] Optical communications link with a dispersive element for spatially separating wavelength channels (2005)
  • Non-final rejection because of [5132824] Patel of Bell Communications Research

Filings by year [by Engana]:

• 2001: 1
• 2002: 2 [3]
• 2003: 3 [2]
• 2004: 2 [3]
• 2005: ? [1] – too early to tell

Trends in filing:

• Increasing focus on optical transmitters and multi-mode applications
• Increasing focus on optical filtering and coupling

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