Seagate sues small-drive maker

Hard-drive giant Seagate Technology said on Wednesday that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against start-up Cornice, which sells tiny disk drives. The suit, filed in district court in Delaware, alleges that Cornice infringed on six U.S. patents relating to disk drive technology. Seagate said that it is seeking monetary damages and "a permanent injunction that bars Cornice from making, using, importing, offering to sell or selling the allegedly infringing products in the United States."

A Cornice representative said the suit is being reviewed and that the company does not comment on pending litigation. Cornice sells 1-inch disk drives used in products such as music players. Seagate recently introduced its own 1-inch drives. Small drives like these are proving popular in consumer electronics devices such as Apple Computer's iPod Mini, which has a 1-inch drive from Hitachi built in.