Symantec and Microsoft: What it means
Since Symantec announced a couple of weeks ago it was suing Microsoft for misappropriating intellectual property, the emotional response is to accuse Symantec of enlisting legal tactics in order to delay the release of Vista and maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. I've read a number of various opinions on the topic and there are a number of analyst and user comments to this effect.
I have seen similar types of litigation before that may shed some light on what's going on. I realize that these examples may not be a true analog but bear with me.
In one extreme, desperate companies use legal tactics because they have little to lose. Years ago, Wang Labratories sued everyone in the memory industry because it had patented the design for SIMMs (i.e. Single In-line Memory Modules) and therefore wanted a licensing fee for every SIMM memory module sold (i.e. millions). It won the lawsuit which probably kept the company alive and enabled it to morph into a professional services firm.
Personally, I place the SCO Linux litigation in this same category.
On the other side of the spectrum, these types of suits arise because of real violations. In May of 1997, Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) sued Intel for the infringement of 10 patents related to microprocessors. I remember thinking that DEC was crazy to initiate this type of "bet the company" legal action so I asked my Digital contacts if they were truly ready to take on one of the industry giants. The DEC guys simply gave me a wry smile and said, "don't worry about us, we know what we are doing." In November of that year, the two settled. Although no one ever admitted guilt, Digital ended up with a fat settlement.
The Sun/Microsoft settlement over Java comes to mind as a similar type of example.
There is a market perception is that the Symantec/Veritas merger has been a failure and thus Symantec is a deperate company like Wang was. I do not subscribe to this theory at all. In my view, Symantec is acting like did Digital in 1997: Symantec truly believes that Microsoft violated the terms and conditions of the previous deal and is willing to go to court to prove its case.
Obviously, this is my opinion as I have no inside knowledge of the contractual obligations or accusations associated with the deal or law suit. I am also not taking sides here, just providing a viewpoint on the motivation for this action.
Eventually there will be a legal ruling or settlement which will provide some insight into to who did what to whom. In the meantime, Symantec and Microsoft will compete on some things and cooperate on others, life goes on in technology.
