This one came from CDN
Wednesday March 19 4:04 PM EDT
Cadence Design Systems: Court Finds Avant! Stole Cadence Source Code
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Cadence Design Systems Inc announced that the United States District Court issued a
preliminary injunction order yesterday finding Avant! Corporation had copied Cadence source code. The decision paves the way for
permanent removal of Avant! products from the market as well as a multimillion dollar damage award to Cadence based on Avant!'s
sales of its ArcCell product line from June 1994 to the present.
"The Court's ruling confirms our claims that Avant! is a company built and sustained on trade secrets and source code stolen from
Cadence," said Joe Costello, president and CEO of Cadence.
The ruling, issued by US District Court Judge Ronald M. Whyte, prohibits Avant! from further use of Cadence's trade secrets and
copyrighted source code which Avant! had incorporated into its ArcCell products.
Judge Whyte also rejected Avant!'s two key defenses, finding that:
* Avant!'s efforts to "clean room" its ArcCell code to remove Cadence's source code was "inadequate," and
* a 1994 agreement did not constitute a license for Avant! to continue to use Cadence's trade secrets, and does not bar any Cadence
claims for misappropriation of trade secrets or copyright infringement.
Even though the judge indicated strong likelihood of success for Cadence, he stopped short of pulling the current Avant!
place-and-route products from the market not because they are untainted, but because, in the Court's view, such an injunction would
1) "...seriously jeopardize Avant!'s ability to survive..." and 2) "...Cadence could, to a large extent, be compensated by money
damages..." as a result of the misappropriation.
Nevertheless, the Court order prevents Avant! from selling products that contain:
* Cadence's global router (GRoute), local router (FRoute), variable die size product (VSize), Design Framework II, and Qplace;
* Any Cadence source code or code derived therefrom found in the possession of Mitch Igusa (a former Cadence employee who was
receiving payments from Avant! founders and who is currently awaiting trial on six felony counts of trade secret misappropriation);
* Avant!'s DSO module or any similar product derived from Cadence's VSize product.
Since the ruling prohibits Avant! from using any of the above mentioned source code and trade secrets, or derivative therefrom, any
further shipments of Avant! products based on Cadence code or trade secrets would be a violation of the Court order and would leave
Avant! subject to sanctions for contempt of court and further damages.
"This decision puts to rest (Avant! president) Gerald Hsu's claims that Avant! did not steal Cadence trade secrets and that Cadence's
lawsuit is unfounded," said Costello. "Cadence will press for an early trial date to remove all tainted Avant! products from the market,
and collect compensatory and punitive damages. In the meantime, the order makes clear that Avant! continues to ship tainted products
at its own peril."
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. provides comprehensive services and technology for the product development requirements of the
world's leading electronics companies. Cadence is the largest supplier of software tools and professional services used to accelerate
and manage the design of semiconductors, compute systems, networking and telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and
a variety of other electronic-based products. With more than 3,500 employees and annual sales of $742 million in 1996, Cadence has
sales offices and research facilities around the world. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. and traded on the New York
Stock Exchange under the symbol CDN. SOURCE Cadence Design Systems Inc. |
