MaxLinear Breaching ‘Obligations’ to Support Millions of Broadband Gateways, Says Comcast

Manhattan. MaxLinear tried to terminate its vendor support agreement (VSA) and related statement of work (SOW) in breach of both agreements “as part of a transparent attempt to further its financial interests in patent litigation,” it said. MaxLinear assigned part of its patent portfolio “to a specialized entity that was formed to assert patent infringement claims (in which MaxLinear retains a financial interest) against a host of operating companies, including Comcast,” it said. But the VSA contains an express “covenant not to sue” Comcast that covers the patents it assigned, “irrespective of who owns them,” it said. Each of the VSA and SOW contains a termination provision that prohibits MaxLinear’s “unilateral termination without the requisite notice,” it said. MaxLinear wrote Comcast a May 18 letter purporting to terminate both the VSA and SOW, “with no notice and without any recognition of the applicable termination provisions,” it said. Comcast responded by letter May 24 asking MaxLinear to confirm it was withdrawing its supposed termination notice and that it will continue to perform under the VSA and SOW, but MaxLinear didn’t respond, it said: “In light of MaxLinear’s improper attempted termination, Comcast brings the instant action to enforce its contractual rights and prevent MaxLinear from withholding the services it is contractually obligated to provide.” MaxLinear didn’t comment Tuesday.