Gateway sanctioned in patent case

A federal judge has ordered Gateway to pay attorneys' fees for a man who is suing the PC maker over its alleged use of software he developed to test floppy disk drives. The judge ruled that Gateway allowed a key piece of evidence to disappear in the patent dispute, according to court documents recently unsealed.

Judge Ted Stewart in Utah said Gateway failed to preserve several crucial documents that could show how Philip Adams' software wound up in Gateway's products. Gateway admitted that it made mistakes in failing to preserve e-mails and other evidence thought to be damaging to its defense, but said it didn't do so deliberately. "Gateway continues to dispute the characterization of this discovery battle and we will continue to defend ourselves vigorously in this case," the company said in a statement.