According to The Seattle Times, Symantec alleges that its volume
data storage and manipulation technologies have been "deliberately
and surreptitiously misappropriated" by Microsoft and used in
patent filings that resulted in US patents being granted to
Microsoft for Symantec's inventions.
Microsoft said last night that the lawsuit stems "from a very
narrow disagreement over the terms of a 1996 contract with Veritas
to license volume management technology."
Veritas, another software giant, merged with Symantec last year.
Microsoft said it has worked hard to try to resolve the issues with
Symantec, but was not able to reach an agreement.
"We believe the facts will show that Microsoft’s actions were
proper and are fully consistent with the contract between Veritas
and Microsoft," it continued. "These claims are unfounded because
Microsoft actually purchased intellectual property rights for all
relevant technologies from Veritas in 2004."
Microsoft first entered into a contract with Veritas in 1996 to
license volume management technology. According to Microsoft, the
contract ultimately gave the Redmond firm the option to buyout the
rights to Veritas’ code and intellectual property rights. In 2004,
Microsoft says it exercised that right and purchased the IP rights.
"Even so, we have gone to great lengths ensure that our volume
management functionality continues to works side by side with
Veritas’ products," it added.
"We value our relationship with Symantec, and we continue to
work closely with them on a wide variety of issues," said
Microsoft. "We are confident that our actions are wholly consistent
with the legal agreements between Veritas and Microsoft, and that
these claims will be shown to be without merit."
Symantec is seeking damages and an injunction to block sales of
the already-delayed Vista.
