Posted on 05/21/2006 10:51:46 AM PDT by Paddlefish
Symantec has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, accusing the software giant of misusing its intellectual property. The suit, filed on Thursday in Seattle, also claims that Microsoft violated a 1996 licensing agreement for Symantec's Volume Manager storage technology. Symantec is seeking an unspecified amount of damages as well as an injunction barring Microsoft from using the technology. If the injunction is granted, it could block the sale of Redmond's next-generation operating system, Windows Vista.
"Our suit was filed as a last resort to protect our intellectual property that was misappropriated by Microsoft," said Chris Paden, a Symantec spokesperson, in a statement.
Storage Issue
The suit primarily involves the Volume Manager technology that enables operating systems to store and manipulate large quantities of data. Symantec acquired Volume Manager during its takeover of Veritas Software.
In 1996, Microsoft purchased a license from Veritas for Volume Manager and subsequently used it in Windows 2000. According to Syamntec, the technology also was used in the development of Windows Server 2003.
Symantec maintains that the intellectual-property violations and breaches of contract began after the introduction of Windows 2000. The company claims the licensing agreement prohibited Microsoft from using the technology in any product that would compete against Veritas.
Windows Server 2003 and Veritas Storage Foundation for Windows are competing products.
(Excerpt) Read more at sci-tech-today.com ...
All it takes is money and signatures
ping
Microshaft... doing what it does best...
It took six years to notice?
I smell BS. I think Symantec is more worried that they won't be able to move copies of its anti-virus software.
Yep, just line netscape complaining that MS includes IE for free, or Eurpoe complainging about Windows Media Player.
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