Seagate Technology deliberately destroyed source code and other evidence in
order to cover up its theft of technology originally developed by small IT
company Convolve and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, claimed a
former Seagate employee in court documents filed Nov. 30.
Those allegations could power a major twist in a nearly 10-year-old
patent-infringement case. In July 2000, Convolve and MIT sued Seagate and one
of its customers, Compaq Computer, for $800 million, accusing the two companies
of misappropriating technology for reducing the vibrations associated with
spinning disk drives. MIT originally developed and licensed the underpinnings
of the design in question.
Convolve and MIT suggested at the time that Seagate and Compaq had violated
an NDA (nondisclosure agreement) after Convolve demonstrated the technology to
Seagate and Compaq for potential licensing. Following that demonstration, the
plaintiffs alleged, the Convolve technology was misappropriated into competing
drive designs.
Various parties in the case have spent the intervening period trading
broadsides of legal documents. However, if this newest one is added to the
record as the plaintiffs request, it has the potential to radically affect the
case's ultimate outcome.
In an affidavit sworn on Nov. 27, according
to court documents obtained by The New York Times, (PDF) former Seagate employee
Paul Galloway said Seagate "widely disseminated Convolve's technology
throughout Seagate's servo engineering community, but engineers like Mr.
Galloway, who were exposed to Convolve's technology, were not told that it was
protected under an NDA." Galloway had previously
worked as a servo engineer for Seagate. A servo, short for servomechanism, is a
device that utilizes feedback to adjust machinery performance and correct
errors.
The documents also allege that "Mr. Galloway's affidavit also offers
direct proof that Seagate has destroyed, significantly altered or improperly
withheld key evidence in this case, including source code that Seagate was
ordered to produce during discovery."
The plaintiff's attorneys want Galloway's affidavit
included in the court's summary judgment record, sanctions to be imposed on
Seagat, and the case set for trial within 90 days of a court-scheduled
conference on Jan. 20, 2010.
Ongoing court case aside, Seagate
has had something of a rough 2009. Despite being the world's largest maker
of hard disk drivers for servers, storage and PCs, the company announced on
Jan. 12 that it would cut 10 percent of its U.S. work force of around 8,000
people, and that both CEO Bill Watkins and COO
David Wickersham would resign.
Seagate has offered various media outlets no comment on the legal
proceedings with Convolve. Compaq was eventually acquired by Hewlett-Packard,
which also reportedly had no comment.
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