May 12, 2000
Dow Jones Newswires
IBM, EMC Corp., Data Genl Patent Hldgs
Settle Patent Suit
Dow Jones Newswires
HOPKINTON, Mass. -- EMC Corp. (EMC), International Business
Machines Corp. (IBM), Data General Patent Holdings LLC and two former
executives of Data General Corp. agreed to dismiss all claims and
counterclaims in settlement of a longstanding patent dispute.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal Dec. 23, 1999, IBM had filed a
lawsuit against rival EMC, alleging the maker of data-storage equipment
violated a patent agreement and committed fraud by secretly transferring
disputed patents to a shell company.
The suit involved a long-running patent fight between IBM and Data General,
which EMC acquired last October for about $1.2 billion. In two separate
lawsuits, the oldest dating to 1994, Data General had claimed that IBM's
widely sold AS/400 computers violated several of its patents.
In a press release Friday, IBM said it is making an unspecified payment as
part of the agreement, although the settlement resolves all outstanding litigation
with no findings or admissions of liability.
In resolving these disputes, EMC and IBM have also agreed to extend their
patent cross-license agreement and further agreed to a five-year moratorium
on patent infringement lawsuits.
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