Friday, 22 June 2007

Azul, Sun Microsystems Settle Their Conflict

Azul Systems and Sun Microsystems have settled a patent infringement suit Sun filed, the companies have said.

Azul Systems and Sun Microsystems have settled a patent infringement suit Sun filed, the companies have said.

The suit had been pending in US District Court for the Northern District of California since May 2006, said Scott Sellers, chief operating office and cofounder of Azul.

Sun alleged that Azul violated trade secrets and patent laws.

Azul, founded in 2002, makes high capacity computing appliances. The company had hired some former Sun employees, including Stephen DeWitt, its CEO.

"We're very pleased to disclose this. This has been in the works for some time. Both sides realise they're spending a lot of money and this would have taken another year," said Sellers.


Meanwhile Sun said Azul agreed to settle because Sun was building a stronger case against Azul as the lawsuit went on.

The case relates to technology for improving the performance of microprocessors through the use of chip multithreading, which Azul is now using in its products. Sun claims Azul infringed patents related to Sun's prior research in the field, and that it abused trade secrets by poaching about a dozen Sun employees familiar with the technology.