HP and EMC to resolve argument out of court

Feb 07, 2005: HP and EMC have agreed to resolve an argument about storage patents out of court, despite EMC winning this dispute last year, based on the legal problems which came with HP's acquisition of StorageApps.

A jury found HP guilty of infringements on EMC's patents, but the court had not yet decided what kind of action was going to take place. HP inherited StorageApps' legal burdens when it acquired it in July 2001.

EMC filed the original complaint against StorageApps in October 2000, claiming that StorageApps' SANLink appliance (now referred to by HP as CASA) infringed on EMC core patents related to remote and local mirroring.

Following a two-week trial, the jury found that HP's OpenView's CASA product infringes EMC's core patents related to the company's SRDF and TimeFinder software products, which perform remote mirroring and local mirroring functions. In addition, the jurors also found the three EMC patents in this suit to be valid over prior art cited by HP.

HP was later banned from selling CASA (Continues Access Storage Appliance), following EMC successfully winning a court injunction to prevent the product from being shipped by HP.

Before this agreement was made to settle out of court, a damages hearing was planned to take place on February 16th, but this will not go ahead anymore.

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