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.
REDMOND, Wash.--Amid its analyst meeting, Microsoft on Thursday announced a small acquisition, scooping up Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Datallegro, a data warehousing firm. Financial details were not disclosed.
Speaking at the meeting, server and tools unit head Bob Muglia said that the acquisition will help the company reach the highest-end enterprise data stores, even reaching higher than Oracle can get today.
"We've never been able to do that before," Muglia said.
In a blog about the acquisition, Forrester Research analyst James Kobielus said: "This deal sets the stage for what will surely be a period of rapid DW (data warehousing) vendor consolidation." He also wrote: "The deal to acquire Datallegro clearly demonstrates that Microsoft is serious about delivering an appliance-based SQL Server solution for DW and business intelligence."
Not a lot of other news from the afternoon sessions with presentations thus far from Muglia and business division head Stephen Elop.
I also wanted to highlight a good point from CNET Blog Network writer and Directions on Microsoft analyst Matt Rosoff, who noted that Zune was barely mentioned in Robbie Bach's talk this morning.
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