Free for a Fee

Cisco Systems claims that Arista Networks has infringed its intellectual property by engaging in “slavish copying” of its Command Line Interface (CLI), a system of prompts and displays that Cisco uses for controlling its routers and switches. Arista says it’s protected by the doctrine of fair use.

The case has more than a passing similarity to the Oracle v. Google trial that took place in May. During that trial, Oracle tried to paint Google as an IP scofflaw for using parts of its Application Programming Interfaces, or APIs. It didn’t work out, though, when the jury decided that Google’s use of the APIs was justified by fair use.