Security firm Symantec has officially filed a lawsuit against Microsoft for unauthorized use of intellectual property and violation of licensing agreements related to proprietary storage technology owned by the company.
The lawsuit was submitted to the Western District Court of Washington yesterday. Through this lawsuit, Symantec seeks damages and aims to prevent Microsoft from continuing to use its technology.
If the court rules in favor of Symantec, it could delay the launch of Windows Vista and Longhorn Server.
“We accuse Microsoft of using some of our intellectual property to which they had access … and Microsoft has unlawfully used these assets in their operating system products,” said Michael Schallop, the director responsible for legal affairs at Symantec.
This lawsuit also marks the first time Microsoft and Symantec have taken each other to court to resolve disputes.
The lawsuit primarily concerns Symantec’s Volume Manager product, which was previously owned by Veritas Software before being acquired by Symantec. Volume Manager allows an operating system to store and manage large amounts of data.
Schallop stated that Microsoft received a license to use Volume Manager from Veritas in 1996 and implemented this technology in Windows 2000. Microsoft continued to use and develop features of this technology for Windows Server 2003. However, what Microsoft further developed became a competing product to Veritas’s Storage Foundation for Windows.
Subsequently, Microsoft unlawfully used this technology in Windows Vista and Longhorn Server. Therefore, Symantec decided to sue Microsoft, seeking to have Microsoft cease further development, sales, or distribution of this technology in Windows Vista, Longhorn Server, and other infringing products.
“The breach of agreement and violation of Microsoft’s intellectual property rights began after the release of Windows 2000. Microsoft is not allowed to use our very own product to develop other products that compete with Symantec’s products. Microsoft has utilized our intellectual property, trade secrets, and source code to develop competing products.”
Meanwhile, Schallop noted that two years ago, Microsoft itself sued Veritas over this technology product. Microsoft claimed that they had invented something that they did not actually possess.
Previously, Symantec and Microsoft had attempted to resolve these disputes, but matters did not proceed smoothly. “Recently, we agreed to bring these disputes to court.”
A representative from Microsoft confirmed the company’s disputes with Symantec and its efforts to reach an agreement without court intervention. The disputes stem from very minor disagreements regarding the terms of the 1996 contract with Veritas.
Hoàng Dũng
