Ciena Corp. of Linthicum has settled its patent litigation with Pirelli SpA, a rival maker of capacity-boosting communications network equipment.
In the settlement, which the companies announced yesterday, Ciena will pay Pirelli $30 million and a royalty on future sales.
The litigation battle between the two firms began when Milan, Italy-based Pirelli brought a patent-infringement suit against Ciena in December 1996.
After this initial suit, Ciena and Pirelli filed additional patent actions against each other. All of those suits will be abandoned, and the companies said there will be a five-year moratorium on litigation between them.