Cisco GC: I’m Trying to Buy Results

Last December, networking equipment giant Cisco Systems filed patent and copyright suits claiming that Arista Networks ,which competes with Cisco for sales of ethernet switches, not only duplicated Cisco technology, but copied Cisco instruction manuals, right down to the typos.

Many at Arista, including CEO Jayshree Ullal , are former Cisco employees. In a blog post about the suit, Mark Chandler, Cisco’s Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer , sounded almost somber.

“In the thirteen years I’ve been General Counsel of Cisco,” Chandler wrote, “I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve initiated suit against ...