NETA drops lawsuit against Symantec
Tuesday December 30, 7:30 pm Eastern Time
Network Associates drops lawsuit
against Symantec
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec 30 (Reuters) - Network Associates
Inc., formerly McAfee Associates Inc., said Tuesday it dropped
its $1 billion defamation lawsuit against rival software company
Symantec Corp.
Separately, a federal court last week rejected Symantec's request
to stop shipments of McAfee PC Medic, a software product that
Symantec says is based on stolen Symantec programming code.
Network Associates and Symantec have been embroiled in
lawsuits for the past year. Symantec, a publisher of utility
software and network management programs, had accused
Network Associates of stealing its software code and basing
products on it. Symantec had asked the court to stop Network
Associates from shipping those products.
In return, Network Associates had countersued Symantec for
defamation, seeking $1 billion in damages.
On Dec. 19, the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., rejected
a second Symantec request for an injunction, officials of both
companies said. The ruling essentially ends all outstanding
Symantec requests for preliminary injunctions against Network
Associates products, Network Associates said.
In light of the ''favorable ruling,'' Network Associates dropped
its defamation lawsuit, the company said.
Symantec said it will continue to pursue its infringement lawsuit.
''We're going to take this to trial,'' said Symantec Chief
Executive Gordan Eubanks. A trial is scheduled for September.
Eubanks also said Network Associates made the ''appropriate''
move by dropping its defamation action. ''They had no case,'' he
said. |
