Once upon a time, Microsoft licensed a version of Veritas Volume Manager and used it in Windows 2000; Symantec now owns Veritas and wants Microsoft to pay for continuing to use that technology.
Symantec also would like the U.S. District Court in Seattle to grant an injunction against Microsoft’s development or distribution of Vista, Longhorn server, and other products.
Further, Symantec has asked that Microsoft be compelled to recall all of the offending Windows products already in the marketplace.
On top of that, Symantec probably wants a pony, too. (Joke, people, ease up on the auto-flames please.)
Patent issues rest at the center of this legal fight, which CNet observed is the first time the two companies have faced off in court.
Symantec thinks Microsoft has filed for storage technology patents that were derived from the Veritas technology.
Microsoft said in the article this wasn’t a problem. “These claims are unfounded because Microsoft actually purchased intellectual property rights for all relevant technologies from Veritas in 2004,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in the report. “We believe the facts will show that Microsoft’s actions were proper and are fully consistent with the contract between Veritas and Microsoft.”
Storage Manager allows systems to handle large amounts of data. Symantec claimed Microsoft took what they had licensed from Veritas and plugged it into Windows Server 2003.
Symantec just released Storage Foundation 5.0, and is not pleased that Microsoft now competes directly with that product.
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David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
