EMC and Hitachi trade patent blows

EMC is suing Hitachi Data Systems for allegedly infringing six of its patents. Experts say the case could spark a flood of such cases in Europe.

EMC filed a lawsuit against Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) last Friday for infringing six of its software patents. An EMC spokesman stated HDS had done so to beat the market's "natural preference" for EMC products, and added that the legal action was a last resort, claiming it had tried to settle the argument out of court.

The company said in a statement: "After nearly four years of attempting to resolve these issues amicably, EMC is asking the ITC (international trade commission) to block importation of Hitachi's infringing software, including those products sold by HDS. The District Court action further seeks damages for patent infringement. The infringing Hitachi products include HORC, HOARC and ShadowImage."

Alex Batterson, a solicitor specialising in software patenting at law firm Bristow's, explained the recent rise in patent cases.

"The reason we are seeing a surge in these patenting lawsuits now is due to the IT boom, which started few years ago," he said. "Those companies involved have started to apply software patents back then and are now realising who's using whose patents."

He said there will be more cases like this in the near future. "Lots more companies are realising it is worth trying to apply for software patents. Many of them are trying to be clever and see what they can get away with. But we are luckily nowhere near the situation as in the States, where they have gone a bit over the top with these patenting lawsuits."

Storage software maker McData sued its rival Brocade last month for alleged patent infringement. The patent in question is one of 25 owned by McData for filtering and measuring frame traffic within a switch. McData has not asked Brocade to stop using the technology, but is demanding royalty payments.

An HDS spokesman said the company is consulting its lawyers about EMC's claims.