Datallegro hit with patent suit
Updated, 4:45, with comment from Datallegro CEO Stuart Frost
Data warehousing software maker Datallegro, which is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft, was hit with a patent infringement lawsuit on Wednesday.
The suit, filed in federal court in San Diego by Cary Jardin, charges that Datallegro and CEO and founder Stuart Frost, infringed on a patent held by Jardin. The suit alleges that Frost gained access to Jardin's technology while he was CEO of Xprime, where Jardin worked, in 2003.
The lawsuit also alleges that Frost attempted to patent Jardin's technology and also used the technology, for which Jardin has a patent, while at Datallegro.
"Shortly after leaving Xprime, defendant Frost attempted to convert Jardin's inventions to his own by filing with the USPTO patent applications in the distributed database architecture field, the same subject matter as Jardin's intellectual property," according to the complaint. "At Datallegro, defendant Frost used and incorporated Jardin's intellectual property into Datallegro's products."
The suit seeks damages, which it asks to be tripled for willful infringement, as well as temporary and permanent injunctions against Datallegro and Frost.
Microsoft announced last month that it was acquiring Datallegro, which is based in Orange County, Calif.
Update: As he noted in the comments section, Frost has posted a blog in response to the suit.
"After analyzing the claims, we feel strongly that they're completely without merit and intend to vigorously defend our position," Frost said. "Given the prior art in this area, we're also considering asking the Patent Office to re-examine Jardin's patent."
Microsoft has declined to comment.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
Please see my blog posting at http://www.beyeblogs.com/DATAllegro/ for DATAllegro's official response.
Stuart
- by dargon19888 August 13, 2008 7:32 PM PDT
- Not much of a defense.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(3 Comments)Saying that they believe the lawsuit is without merit and then also saying that they are trying to get the patents reversed due to "prior art"???
The interesting thing is that AFAIK, even if the patent is eventually revoked, they would still be guilty of patent infringement. IANAL, but something doesn't smell right.