Seagate ends gunfight at the SSD corral

In the legal gunfight at the SSD corral initiated by Wild Bill Watkins - then top gunslinger at Seagate - STC has emerged victorious, with Seagate abjectly running away. Seagate sued STEC for patent infringement of its own solid state drive technology in April last year. The alleged infractions even included the 3.5-inch form …

[Anonymous Coward]

Shurely not...

Suing over the *form-factor*?

I'm off to file a patent on the 'form factor' of the 2x4 that's lurking in my shed, watch out timber merchants everywhere, don't you dare copy my patented timber dimensions or I'll sue you back to the dark ages.

(BTW, wasn't it Sony that created the 3.5" form factor with the floppy drive? Perhaps they could fund the development of the PS4 with the proceeds of the suit against Seagate?)

Paris, wood... no further comment.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sign of the times

We live in a world where corporate legal departments are designed as revenue streams just as much as the traditional sales departments.

The pressure to produce income will inevitably lead to the same extremes of behaviour that affect those sales departments.

If one expects legal operations to be purely defensive, professional and proper these days then one is living in the wrong century. Speculative litigation is quite normal now.

[Anonymous Coward]

Seagate are suing their lawyers?

Brilliant plan!

Well done to STEC.

[Sampler]

Mis-direction

So this suit enabled Seagate to look at STEC's hardware to evaluate whether there was patent infringement - so they got a free fully guided tour and look under the hood, maybe that was the point all along?

[Anonymous Coward]

taking pot shots

What is it you have against Seagate exactly? Have you had a drive go down 5 years ago and you take a swipe at them whenever you get the chance?

It sounds to me like STEC and Seagate may be getting together for some SSD shenanigans in the future - the tech world works in mysterious ways. I doubt STEC are having an easy time in the present environment, maybe cash rich Seagate has offered a mutually benefical alternative? Makes sense to me, but then I guess its easy to take shots at big companies?

[Dick]

@AC

Sorry dude, your 2x4 actually has a 3.5" form factor, expect a letter from Seagate soon.

[Chris Mellor]

Seagate statement

Here is a Seagate statement on the issue:-

"Seagate dismissed its patent infringement case against STEC and STEC dismissed its counterclaims against the company and Mr. Watkins. The economic conditions today are drastically altered from those that existed when we filed the litigation and the impact of STEC's sales of SSD's has turned out to be so small that the expenditures necessary to vindicate the patents could be better spent elsewhere."

The spokes person added that it's also worth noting that this settlement doesn't preclude Seagate from taking action in the future to defend its intellectual property.

Chris.