Steven Cherny (admission pro hac vice pending)
`steven.cherny@kirkland.com
`KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP
`601 Lexington Avenue
`New York, New York 10022
`Telephone: (212) 446-4800
`Facsimile: (212) 446-4900
`
`Adam R. Alper (SBN 196834)
`adam.alper@kirkland.com
`KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP
`555 California Street
`San Francisco, California 94104
`Telephone: (415) 439-1400
`Facsimile: (415) 439-1500
`
`Michael W. De Vries (SBN 211001)
`michael.devries@kirkland.com
`KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP
`333 South Hope Street
`Los Angeles, California 90071
`Telephone: (213) 680-8400
`Facsimile: (213) 680-8500
`
`
`
`Kathleen Sullivan (SBN 242261)
`kathleensullivan@quinnemanuel.com
`QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART &
`SULLIVAN LLP
`51 Madison Avenue, 22nd Floor
`New York, NY 10010
`Telephone: (212) 849-7000
`Facsimile: (212) 849-7100
`
`Sean S. Pak (SBN 219032)
`seanpak@quinnemanuel.com
`John M. Neukom (SBN 275887)
`johnneukom@quinnemanuel.com.
`QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART &
`SULLIVAN LLP
`50 California Street, 22nd Floor
`San Francisco, CA 94111
`Telephone: (415) 875-6600
`Facsimile: (415) 875-6700
`
`Mark Tung (SBN 245782)
`marktung@quinnemanuel.com
`QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART &
`SULLIVAN LLP
`555 Twin Dolphin Drive, 5th Floor
`Redwood Shores, CA 94065
`Telephone: (650) 801-5000
`Facsimile: (650) 801-5100
`
`
`
`Attorneys for Plaintiff Cisco Systems, Inc.
`
`
`
`UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`
`NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
`
`
`CASE NO. 14-5344
`
`
`
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND
`PATENT INFRINGEMENT
`
`DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL
`
`
`
`) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )
`
`
`)
`
`CISCO SYSTEMS, INC.,
`
`
`Plaintiff,
`
`
`v.
`
`ARISTA NETWORKS, INC.,
`
`
`Defendant.
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`99998.77952/6378322.2
`
`Exhibit 2045
`IPR2016-00309
`
`

`
`
`
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
`
`Plaintiff Cisco Systems, Inc. (“Cisco”), for its complaint against Defendant Arista Networks, Inc.
`
`(“Arista”), hereby demands a jury trial and alleges as follows:
`
`INTRODUCTION
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`1.
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`Cisco is an information technology (IT) company that was founded in 1984. Cisco is the
`
`worldwide leader in developing and implementing the networking technologies that enable global
`
`interconnectivity and the Internet of Everything. Cisco employs thousands of networking engineers at
`
`its headquarters in San Jose, California, and elsewhere, and invests billions of dollars annually in
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`research and development focused on creating the future of networking technologies.
`
`2.
`
`Decades after Cisco’s founding, Arista was founded by former Cisco employees, many of
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`whom are named inventors on Cisco’s networking patents. Among others, Arista’s: 1) founders,
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`2) President and CEO, 3) Chief Development Officer, 4) Chief Technology Officer, 5) Senior Vice
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`President for Customer Engineering, 6) Vice President of Business Alliances, 7) former Vice President
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`for Global Operations and Marketing, 8) Vice President of Systems Engineering and Technology
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`Marketing, 9) Vice President of Hardware Engineering, 10) Vice President of Software Engineering, and
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`11) Vice President of Manufacturing and Platform Engineering all were employed by Cisco prior to
`
`joining Arista. Moreover, four out of the seven members of Arista’s Board of Directors were previously
`
`employed by Cisco.
`
`3.
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`Arista’s goal is to sell networking products. Rather than building its products and
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`services based on new technologies developed by Arista, however, and providing legitimate competition
`
`to Cisco, Arista took a shortcut by blatantly and extensively copying the innovative networking
`
`technologies designed and developed by Cisco.
`
`4.
`
`Arista has acknowledged the substantial investment in time and employment that would
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`have been required to legitimately compete with Cisco. Arista’s President and Chief Executive Officer,
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`former Cisco employee Jayshree Ullal, has stated:
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`“Since I helped build the enterprise [at Cisco], I would never compete with Cisco directly
`
`in the enterprise in a conventional way. It makes no sense. It would take me 15 years
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`99998.77952/6378322.2
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`1
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
`
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`and 15,000 engineers, and that’s not a recipe for success.” (Emphasis added.)
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`5.
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`In fact, by simply copying numerous networking technologies developed by Cisco, Arista
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`avoided hiring the thousands of engineers and making the substantial investments that would otherwise
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`have been needed to legitimately develop its own technologies. Indeed, Cisco is not the only party to
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`find itself aggrieved by Arista’s alleged misappropriation of intellectual property. Arista Co-Founder
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`David Cheriton has himself alleged that Arista misappropriated his own intellectual property in a
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`complaint that his company Optumsoft has filed against Arista.
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`6.
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`Arista’s use and copying of Cisco’s technologies and copyrighted materials is widespread
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`and flagrant. Arista copied Cisco’s operating system software (including its Internetwork Operating
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`System (“IOS”1, “IOS XR”, and “IOS XE”) and its Nexus Operating System (“NX-OS”) (collectively,
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`“Cisco IOS”), which was developed by Cisco for its products. Arista also flagrantly copied Cisco’s
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`operating system documentation into Arista’s documentation. Of particular importance, Arista’s
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`verbatim copying of the Cisco IOS software allowed it to replicate Cisco’s widely acclaimed command-
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`line interface (“CLI”). A CLI is the set of commands employed by a user in operating technology
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`products. Cisco’s CLI is used by Cisco’s customers to communicate with its products, as well as to
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`configure and manage them. Arista also incorporated numerous patented Cisco technologies into
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`Arista’s products covering a variety of critical features on Arista’s products.
`
`7.
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`Arista deliberately and repeatedly engaged in extensive copying in order to compete
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`unfairly with Cisco. Arista publicly touts that its copying of Cisco’s CLI makes it easier for Cisco’s
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`customers to switch rapidly from Cisco’s products to competing products sold by Arista. Arista even
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`has publicly congratulated itself for avoiding the time and investment needed to create the CLI that
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`Cisco created. For example, Ms. Ullal has stated:
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`“[A] Cisco CCIE expert would be able to use Arista right away, because we have a
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`similar command-line interface and operational look and feel. Where we don’t have to
`
`invent, we don’t.” (Emphasis added.)
`
`Ullal’s statement is noteworthy for its understatement, however. While it has long been understood that
`
`
`
`1 Cisco also owns the IOS name and has licensed it to Apple for use in Apple’s mobile devices.
`
`99998.77952/6378322.2
`
`2
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
`
`

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`
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`simple single-word commands in a CLI may not be protectable under copyright (“Copy”, “Paste”,
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`“Delete”, for example), in Arista’s case the expression and organization of over 500 of the multi-word
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`commands in Cisco’s CLI are copied verbatim. This contrasts with far less overlap in the case of other
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`Cisco competitors. Moreover, as described below, the CLI copying is just the tip of the iceberg.
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`Arista’s slavish copying of Cisco materials goes far beyond the CLI, including extensive copying of not
`
`only Cisco’s software, but also Cisco’s documentation.
`
`8.
`
`Arista’s co-founder and current Chief Technology Officer, Kenneth Duda, has likewise
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`touted Arista’s copying of Cisco’s CLI. Mr. Duda, in fact, explained that Arista decided to “[p]rovide
`
`familiar interfaces to ease adoption,” including a “standard CLI that … retains familiar management
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`commands” (emphasis added), so much so that “80% [of Arista customers] tell us they appreciate the
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`way they can leverage their deep [Cisco] IOS experience, as they can easily upgrade an aging [Cisco]
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`Catalyst infrastructure to Arista.” Mr. Duda also stated:
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`“Familiar management interfaces, standard CLI … It’s been very helpful for our
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`customers to be able to rapidly adopt our products and integrate them into their
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`environments … [and] that our switches provide a familiar management interface so their
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`existing tools and processes, screen scraping, automation, continue to work just as they
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`did before.”
`
`9.
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`As demonstrated by networking products from other vendors, Arista did not need to
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`extensively copy Cisco’s creative expression in order to sell a functioning product. By its own
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`admission, Arista copied Cisco in order to take a shortcut to compete with Cisco using Cisco’s own
`
`technologies, while avoiding the investments in employees, money, and time that would have been
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`needed to develop products based on new technologies. In particular, Arista copied Cisco’s software,
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`including the detailed expression, hierarchy, and organization of at least five hundred unique multi-word
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`commands from Cisco’s CLI, examples of which are included in attached Exhibit 1. Arista also copied
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`extensively from Cisco IOS documentation, in many cases copying portions of text verbatim from Cisco
`
`IOS documentation such as user guides and manuals, including down to typos. For example:
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`99998.77952/6378322.2
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`3
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
`
`

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`Additional examples of Arista’s copying of Cisco’s IOS documentation are included in attached Exhibit
`
`
`
`
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`2.
`
`10.
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`Arista has caused significant and irreparable harm to Cisco by incorporating Cisco’s
`
`technologies into Arista’s products and by telling customers that a primary benefit of using those
`
`products is that they are just like Cisco’s.
`
`11.
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`Arista’s actions also significantly harm innovation. If Arista’s copying allows it to avoid
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`what is needed to develop new technologies, other companies will be encouraged to simply copy others’
`
`proprietary technologies rather than to hire engineers, invest in innovation, and develop new
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`technologies. That result would significantly threaten the American economy and global innovation.
`
`12.
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`Cisco welcomes legitimate competition in the marketplace. Its executives have written
`
`and spoken in support of employee mobility, and Cisco believes strongly and has stated that allowing
`
`people to move freely between companies fosters innovation.2 But Arista has unlawfully and
`
`
`
`2 Cisco, Cisco Blog - The Platform, “Employee Mobility,” available at
`http://blogs.cisco.com/tag/employee-mobility/.
`
`99998.77952/6378322.2
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`4
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
`
`

`
`
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`intentionally copied technologies developed by thousands of Cisco engineers in order to take shortcuts,
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`rather than to innovate. Such unlawful behavior stifles innovation and cannot be condoned.
`
`NATURE OF THE ACTION
`
`13.
`
`This is a civil action for copyright infringement under the Copyright Laws of the United
`
`States, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101 et seq., for patent infringement under the Patent Laws of the United States, 35
`
`U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq., and for such other relief as the Court deems just and proper.
`
`THE PARTIES
`
`14.
`
`Plaintiff Cisco Systems, Inc., is a company duly organized and existing under the laws of
`
`California, having its principal place of business at 170 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, California 95134.
`
`15.
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`Defendant Arista is a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of
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`Delaware, having its principal place of business at 5453 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, California
`
`95054.
`
`JURISDICTION
`
`16.
`
`This civil action asserts claims arising under the Copyright Laws of the United States, 17
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`U.S.C. §§ 101 et seq., and the Patent Laws of the United States, 35 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq. This Court has
`
`subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1338(a).
`
`17.
`
`This Court has personal jurisdiction over Arista. Arista has maintained its principal place
`
`of business in the Northern District of California since 2004. Arista also has engaged in substantial and
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`not isolated business activities in the Northern District of California. Specifically, Arista, directly and/or
`
`through third parties, has made, used, sold, and/or offered for sale within the Northern District of
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`California and/or imported into the Northern District of California infringing networking products and
`
`other works.
`
`VENUE
`
`18.
`
`Venue properly lies in this District under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391 and 1400(b) because
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`Arista’s principal place of business is in this District, acts of copyright and patent infringement have
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`been committed in this District, and Arista is subject to personal jurisdiction in this District. In addition,
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`venue is proper because Cisco has suffered harm in this District.
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`99998.77952/6378322.2
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`5
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`INTRADISTRICT ASSIGNMENT
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`19.
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`This Complaint includes an Intellectual Property Action, which is an excepted category
`
`under Civil Local Rule 3-2(c). Consequently, this action is assigned on a District-wide basis.
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`GENERAL ALLEGATIONS
`
`CISCO IS THE WORLDWIDE LEADER IN NETWORKING INNOVATIONS
`
`20.
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`Founded in 1984, Cisco is the worldwide leader in developing, implementing, and
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`providing the technologies behind networking products and services. Cisco develops and provides a
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`broad range of networking products and services that enable seamless communication among
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`individuals, businesses, public institutions, government agencies, and service providers. Specifically,
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`the thousands of engineers who work at Cisco develop and provide networking hardware, software, and
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`services that utilize cutting-edge technologies to transport data, voice, and video within buildings, across
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`cities and campuses, and around the world.
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`21.
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`Since its founding, Cisco has pioneered many of the important technologies that created
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`and enabled global interconnectivity. During the past three decades, Cisco has invested billions of
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`dollars, and the time and dedication of thousands of its engineers, in the research and development of
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`networking products and services, culminating in the development of a highly-successful interface and
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`related technologies that have driven the proliferation of Cisco’s computer networking technologies and
`
`the Internet.
`
`22.
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`Included in Cisco’s products is a highly innovative original operating system CLI that is
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`familiar to users of Cisco’s products as well as additional features that are important to the successful
`
`deployment of large and small networks based on the demands of today’s networking environments.
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`Cisco remains at the forefront of developing cutting-edge networking technologies: in the last fiscal year
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`alone, Cisco invested more than $5 billion in ongoing research and development and employed more
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`than ten thousand engineers in California and elsewhere.
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`23.
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`Cisco’s intellectual property rights, including its copyright and patent rights, protect its
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`valuable operating system, including the interface and other technologies developed by Cisco that are
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`incorporated therein. As a result of its innovations, Cisco has developed a portfolio of hundreds of
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`registered U.S. copyrights, including the copyrights asserted in this action, as well as a substantial patent
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`99998.77952/6378322.2
`
`6
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
`
`

`
`
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`portfolio including the two patents asserted in this action.
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`CISCO’S COPYRIGHTED OPERATING SYSTEM
`
`24.
`
`Cisco IOS includes many of Cisco’s core technologies, encompassing both patented
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`technologies and also creative expression, including, among other things, proprietary source code,
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`command expressions, organization and command hierarchies, Cisco’s CLI, and corresponding screen
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`displays. Cisco IOS, and specifically Cisco’s CLI, is recognized by customers and the industry
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`generally as a very important, unique aspect of Cisco’s products that contributes tremendously to the
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`success and widespread acceptance of Cisco’s products.
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`25.
`
`Cisco owns copyrights in Cisco’s IOS and related documentation, many of which are
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`duly recorded and registered with the United States Copyright Office, as reflected by the following
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`registrations and applications: Cisco IOS 11.0 (Reg. No. TXu-1-036-057); Cisco IOS 11.1 (Reg. No.
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`TXu-1-048-569) (supplementing TX-5-531-435); Cisco IOS 11.2 (Reg. No. TXu-1-036-063); Cisco IOS
`
`11.3 (Reg. No. TXu-1-057-804) (supplementing TXu-1-036-062); Cisco IOS 12.0 (Reg. No. TXu-1-
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`057-805) (supplementing TXu-1-036-064); Cisco IOS 12.1 (Reg. No. TXu-1-057-807) (supplementing
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`TXu-1-036-066); Cisco IOS 12.2 (Reg. No. TXu-1-057-806) (supplementing TXu-1-036-065); Cisco
`
`IOS 12.3 (Reg. No. TXu-1-188-975); Cisco IOS 12.4 (Reg. No. TXu-1-259-162); Cisco IOS 15.0
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`(application pending); Cisco IOS 15.1 (application pending); Cisco IOS 15.2 (application pending);
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`Cisco IOS 15.4 (application pending); Cisco IOS XR version 3.0 (Reg. No. TXu-1-237-896); Cisco IOS
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`XR version 3.2 (Reg. No. TXu-1-270-592); Cisco IOS XR Version 3.3 (Reg. No. TXu-1-336-997);
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`Cisco IOS XR Version 3.4 (Reg. No. TXu-1-344-750); Cisco IOS XR version 3.5 (Reg. No. TXu-1-
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`592-305); Cisco IOS XR version 4.3 (Reg. No. TX 7-933-364); Cisco IOS XR version 5.2 (Reg. No. TX
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`7-933-353); Cisco IOS XE version 2.1 (application pending); Cisco IOS XE version 3.5 (application
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`pending); Cisco NX-OS Release 4.0 (application pending); Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0 (application
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`pending); Cisco NX-OS Release 5.2 (application pending); and Cisco NX-OS Release 6.2 (application
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`pending) (collectively, the “Cisco IOS Copyrighted Works”).
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`26.
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`The Cisco IOS Copyrighted Works are original, creative works and copyrightable subject
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`matter under the laws of the United States. Cisco has complied in all respects with the Copyright Laws
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`99998.77952/6378322.2
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`7
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`

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`
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`of the United States, and the Register of Copyrights has issued, or Cisco has applied for, Certificates of
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`Registration for each of the Cisco IOS Copyrighted Works. Attached hereto as Exhibits 3-28, and
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`incorporated herein by reference, are true and correct copies of the Certificates of Registration issued by
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`the Copyright Office or pending applications for registration of the Cisco IOS Copyrighted Works. The
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`issued certificates that are attached reflect the date upon which Cisco applied for a Certificate of
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`Registration, the date on which the certificate was issued, and the registration number assigned.
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`27.
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`As described generally above, a key component of Cisco IOS is the “Command-Line
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`Interface” or CLI. The CLI is the user interface by which users of Cisco products communicate with the
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`product in order to configure and manage the product. Cisco’s CLI includes an elaborate taxonomy of
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`unique textual command expressions, authored by Cisco’s employees, which a user learns in order to
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`“talk” to the product. When a command is entered by a human operator or computer script, Cisco’s CLI
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`interprets the command and performs a particular operation associated with that command. Cisco’s CLI
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`also includes an original structure and hierarchy (and naming convention) of command modes and
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`associated prompts, which support various, defined sets of the command expressions.
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`28.
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`The Cisco IOS Copyrighted Works (including their unique command expressions, and
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`unique command mode structure, prompts, and hierarchies) are original, expressive works that have
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`been developed over many years of creative endeavor by Cisco. Other competing developers of
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`networking products have created their own operating systems that differ from Cisco’s—including
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`different command expressions, different hierarchies, and different organizations of those commands—
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`which evidences the many creative choices available to a creator of such works. Indeed, when
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`developing an operating system that includes a command-line interface, the software developer has a
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`range of options in deciding on the structure, sequence, and organization of the interface, including what
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`particular textual command expressions (or names) to compose, the purposes assigned to the commands,
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`and the hierarchy, structure, and naming conventions of the command modes and prompts. The Cisco
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`IOS Copyrighted Works represent numerous creative choices made by Cisco and Cisco’s original
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`expression of one particular way to create such an operating system. Cisco has invested tens of
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`thousands of employee-hours in developing its unique operating system, which is protected from
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`99998.77952/6378322.2
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`8
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`unlawful copying under the Copyright Laws of the United States.
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`29.
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`Cisco also produces creative and expressive documentation, such as user manuals and
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`guides, to its customers to assist them with the use of Cisco IOS. These manuals and guides describe the
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`details of Cisco IOS, the CLI, and how to configure Cisco’s products for use in network operation.
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`Cisco has invested thousands of employee-hours in the preparation of the manuals and guides, each of
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`which is protected from unlawful copying under the Copyright Laws of the United States.
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`30.
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`Cisco IOS, including Cisco's CLI, has been continuously updated and improved by Cisco
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`over many years to incorporate additional creative expression developed by Cisco, including numerous
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`versions that were uniquely created for different settings and particular Cisco products. Thus, each of
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`the Cisco IOS Copyrighted Works is the product of thousands of hours of Cisco employees’ time, and is
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`protected from unlawful copying under the Copyright Laws of the United States.
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`CISCO’S PATENTED TECHNOLOGIES THAT ARE BASED IN CLI
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`31.
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`In addition to Cisco’s copyrighted works, Cisco also developed and owns a number of
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`patented technologies implemented with Cisco’s CLI. Two examples of Cisco’s patented technologies
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`that are implemented with Cisco’s CLI are described below.
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`U.S. Patent No. 7,047,526
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`32.
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`U.S. Patent No. 7,047,526 (“the ’526 patent”) entitled “Generic Command Interface for
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`Multiple Executable Routines” issued on May 16, 2006, to Jeffrey Wheeler and Paul Mustoe. A true
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`and correct copy of the ’526 patent is attached hereto as Exhibit 29.
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`33.
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`Cisco Systems, Inc., is the owner by assignment of the ’526 patent and has the full right
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`to enforce and/or license the ’526 patent.
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`34.
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`35.
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`The ’526 patent is valid and enforceable.
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`The technologies claimed in the ’526 patent are implemented with Cisco’s CLI and are
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`key features that contribute to the success of Cisco’s CLI.
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`U.S. Patent No. 7,953,886
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`36.
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`U.S. Patent No. 7,953,886 (“the ’886 patent”) entitled “Method and System of Receiving
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`and Translating CLI Command Data Within a Routing System” issued on May 31, 2011, to Anil Bansal,
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`99998.77952/6378322.2
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`9
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`Jung Tjong, Prakash Bettadapur, and Sastry Varanasi. A true and correct copy of the ’886 patent is
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`attached hereto as Exhibit 30.
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`37.
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`Cisco Systems, Inc., is the owner by assignment of the ’886 patent and has the full right
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`to enforce and/or license the ’886 patent.
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`38.
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`39.
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`The ’886 patent is valid and enforceable.
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`The technologies claimed in the ’886 patent are implemented with Cisco’s CLI and are
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`key features that contribute to the success of Cisco’s CLI.
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`ARISTA BLATANTLY AND EXTENSIVELY COPIED CISCO’S CLI
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`40.
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`Decades after Cisco’s founding, former Cisco employees who were intimately and
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`directly familiar with Cisco’s unique operating system, CLI, and other pioneering networking
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`technologies, including those protected by the copyrights and patents asserted in this action, started
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`Arista. Since that time, numerous additional Cisco employees who are also intimately familiar with
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`Cisco IOS and other pioneering technologies have taken that knowledge with them to Arista. For
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`example, Arista founder and Chief Development Officer Andreas Bechtolsheim served as Vice
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`President and General Manager of Cisco’s Gigabit Systems Business Unit; Arista founder, Chief
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`Technology Officer, and Senior Vice President Kenneth Duda worked at Cisco for several years as a
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`software engineer in Cisco’s Gigabit Systems Business Unit; Arista’s current President and Chief
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`Executive Officer, Jayshree Ullal, worked at Cisco for more than a decade, including as Senior Vice
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`President of Cisco’s Data Center, Switching, and Services Group (which is responsible for some of
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`Cisco’s flagship networking product lines); and Arista’s former Vice President of Systems Engineering
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`and Technology Marketing, Doug Gourlay, was previously Vice President of Cisco’s Marketing Group.
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`Cisco strongly believes, and has repeatedly stated, that mobility of employees between companies
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`fosters innovation.3 Unlawful copying like that engaged in by Arista stifles innovation, however, and
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`cannot be condoned.
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`41.
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`Arista personnel, including Bechtolsheim, Ullal, and others, knew that Cisco’s
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`3 Cisco, Cisco Blog - The Platform, “Employee Mobility,” available at
`http://blogs.cisco.com/tag/employee-mobility/.
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`99998.77952/6378322.2
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`10
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`proprietary IOS and pioneering networking technologies—including the proprietary expression and
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`technologies covered by the Cisco IOS Copyrighted Works, and by the ‘526 patent and the ‘886 patent
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`(collectively, the “Patents-in-Suit”)—drive customer demand for Cisco’s products. Rather than invest in
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`the expensive and time-consuming effort that would have been necessary to develop its own features for
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`Arista’s products, and specifically instead of investing the time and expense of developing its own CLI,
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`Arista decided to simply copy Cisco’s unique approach and pioneering proprietary technologies, and
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`even to explicitly tout its copying to the market in attempts to sell Arista products that compete directly
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`with Cisco products.
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`42.
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`Arista’s voluminous, unauthorized, and illegal misappropriation of Cisco technology has
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`been crucial to Arista’s attempts to compete with Cisco. By extensively copying Cisco’s copyrighted
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`operating system and its patented CLI technologies, Arista took an unlawful shortcut, thereby avoiding
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`the need to make investments that would have been necessary had Arista not copied Cisco’s technology.
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`By doing so, Arista has been able to offer a directly competitive product to Cisco IOS, which Arista tells
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`customers substitutes for Cisco’s offering in the same product market.
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`43.
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`Arista personnel—many of whom worked at Cisco at or after the time the technologies
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`were developed by Cisco—were well aware that the unique Cisco CLI that Arista appropriated is
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`protected by U.S. copyrights. By this action, Cisco seeks to stop Arista’s willful, unauthorized, and
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`improper use of Cisco’s copyrighted works, and to obtain damages for the significant harm caused to
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`Cisco by Arista’s copying.
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`44.
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`Arista has blatantly copied and misappropriated numerous original and distinctive
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`elements of the Cisco IOS in order to compete with Cisco and create Arista’s products and related
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`materials, including Arista’s Extensible Operating System (“EOS”).
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`45.
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`Arista’s President and Chief Executive Officer Jayshree Ullal has stated: “Since I helped
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`build the enterprise, I would never compete with Cisco directly in the enterprise in a conventional way.
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`It makes no sense. It would take me 15 years and 15,000 engineers, and that’s not a recipe for
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`99998.77952/6378322.2
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`11
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`success.”4 In order to avoid the many years and engineers whom Ms. Ullal conceded it would have
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`taken for Arista to compete lawfully with Cisco, Arista decided instead to simply copy significant
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`portions of Cisco’s copyrighted operating system, including the expression, organization, and hierarchy
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`of at least several hundred of Cisco’s multi-word commands.
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`46. Ms. Ullal has specifically and publicly acknowledged, and even touted as a selling point
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`of Arista products, that Arista copied Cisco’s CLI. For example, Ms. Ullal stated that: “[A] Cisco CCIE
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`expert would be able to use Arista right away, because we have a similar command-line interface and
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`operational look and feel. Where we don’t have to invent, we don’t.”5
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`47.
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`Arista’s co-founder and current Chief Technology Officer Kenneth Duda likewise stated
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`that Arista has learned to “[p]rovide familiar interfaces to ease adoption” including a “standard CLI
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`that … retains familiar management commands” so much so that “80% [of Arista customers] tell us
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`they appreciate the way they can leverage their deep [Cisco] IOS experience, as they can easily
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`upgrade an aging [Cisco] Catalyst infrastructure to Arista.”6
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`48. Mr. Duda has further stated: “Familiar management interfaces, standard CLI … It’s been
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`very helpful for our customers to be able to rapidly adopt our products and integrate them into their
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`environments … that our switches provide a familiar management interface so their existing tools and
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`processes, screen scraping, automation, continue to work just as they did before.”7 In fact, when asked
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`“[i]f [customers] just want to take the [Arista] switch, just as they’re used to, take it out of the box, plug
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`
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`4 See, e.g., Adam Lashinsky, “An Ex-Cisco Exec Reflects,” Fortune (Mar. 20, 2014) (emphasis
`added), available at http://fortune.com/2014/03/20/an-ex-cisco-exec-reflects/.
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`5 See, e.g., John Gallant, “How Arista Networks Got Out In Front of the SDN Craze,” Network World
`(Feb. 22, 2013) (emphasis added).
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`6 See, e.g., Posting of Kenneth Duda to Arista EOS Central, “Linux as a Switch Operating System:
`Five Lessons Learned” (Nov. 5, 2013), available at https://eos.arista.com/linux-as-a-switch-
`operating-system-five-lessons-learned/ (emphasis added).
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`7 See, e.g., Arista, EOS Bites & Bytes - Episode 1 - Lessons Learned While Building a Network OS on
`Top of Linux, Arista EOS Central - Video Library (Jan. 30, 2014), at 6:55–7:56, available at
`http://eos.arista.com/wp-content/themes/aristaeos/video-lightbox.php?vid=ttp6lavHKGo (emphasis
`added).
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`99998.77952/6378322.2
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`12
`COMPLAINT FOR COPYRIGHT AND PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`in your console, whatever, SSH in, it’s no different,” Mr. Duda answered in the affirmative (“Yeah”).8
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`49.
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`Arista has made similar statements in its product documentation for EOS. For example, a
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`white paper released by Arista stated “[t]he familiar EOS command-line interface (CLI) avoids
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`retraining costs.”9
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`50.
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`Consistent with its statements to the market, in order to create a directly competing
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`operating system and to make Arista’s pro