9/22/97 - McAfee Blasts Back At Symantec
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1997 SEP 22
(Newsbytes) -- By Bob Woods. McAfee Associates
[NASDAQ:MCAF] told Newsbytes Monday afternoon that
facts detailed in a press release issued by Symantec Corp.
[NASDAQ:MCAF] early Monday morning actually took
place a month ago, although the release seemed to indicate
that the actions just took place.
In the release, Symantec said a magistrate judge ordered
McAfee Associates to "preserve evidence" in the copyright
infringement case Symantec filed against its anti-virus rival.
Symantec also said the judge ordered McAfee to produce
computer disks that may be involved with the case.
McAfee spokesperson Jennifer Keavney told Newsbytes that
her company handed over evidence in the case last August,
including computers that "had been attached to" an
employee's home computer that contained code McAfee
claims was from a public source. But Keavney said a court
denied Symantec's recent request for access to additional
computers.
Symantec said the code found on the employee's home
computer was from its CrashGuard program.
The legal wrangling began last April, when Symantec filed a
suit alleging that McAfee copied key portions of code from
Symantec's CrashGuard product, and used that code in its
own PC Medic product (Newsbytes, Apr. 24, 1997). The
case has now expanded to cover code and trade secrets
McAfee allegedly included in its other products.
Meantime McAfee has countersued Symantec for $1 billion,
charging Symantec with "defamation and trade libel" in
relation to statements made in press releases by Symantec
officials. Keavney said, "Symantec has been lobbing press
releases over the wall on the days of our earnings
announcements for two quarters in a row." The Symantec
announcements have had "effects on (McAfee) trading
activity," Keavney said.
Symantec has said McAfee's suit is an effort to draw
attention away from its own suit against McAfee.
The libel lawsuit is still in the courts, Keavney added.
Newsbytes recently detailed some of the volleys fired in the
so-called news release war currently underway between the
two companies in an article published August 29, 1997. |
