A small subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc. recently settled a lawsuit it filed against computer consulting firm CHE Consulting, Inc.  The lawsuit was filed against the computer consulting firm, run by David York for alleged copyright and patent infringement.  The lawsuit was settled after many years when StorageTek decided to pay the computer consulting firm an amount that was not released.

The computer consulting firm CHE maintains and repairs data storage libraries that were manufactured by StorageTek.  It created a diagnostic tool that was based on StorageTek products.  This act was claimed to be illegal.  CHE countersued later and said that StorageTek was trying to monopolize the maintenance of its tape libraries.

The small computer consulting firm is run by York and his wife Phyllis.  He states that often litigation is used by larger computer companies to bully customers.  No comment was offered by Sun Microsystems.  The settlement was official last week after being on trial for five weeks in U.S. District Court in Boston, where the suit was originally filed.

The attorney for the computer consulting firm was pleased with the amount given by Sun Microsystems.  While the actual amount was undisclosed, attorney Anthony Simon stated the original request was for $140 million in damages.  

Computer business StorageTek is based in Louisville, CO and creates cabinets with 6,000 data storage tapes and 80 tape drives to read them.  A robotic arm is responsible for switching the tape to and from the drive for users.  Those using the tools are mainly government offices and businesses.

Computer consulting firm CHE and others like it maintain and repair the robotic tape libraries.  York developed his own technology to help improve maintenance abilities.  The firm’s work maintaining the libraries represents approximately 40 percent of its annual revenue, which was estimated in 2004 to be about $14.64 million.  Customers of CHE include IBM, GE Capital, Equifax and Honeywell.  The lawsuit was originally filed in 2004 and thrown out initially in 2005, though it went to trial in October of 2006.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit