Seagate's Fate in Convolve/MIT Suit May be Sealed

From DailyTech: Seagate is the world's largest maker of hard drives which go into computers and a myriad of other electronic devices. The technology and hardware behind hard drives is closely guarded and in many cases protected by patents and NDAs.

Seagate has been fighting a legal battle with a company called Convolve and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) that has raged on for ten years. The technology at the core of the suit has to do with reducing vibrations associated with traditional hard drives and their spinning platters. Convolve and MIT filed suit against Seagate -- and one of its customers Compaq -- back in July of 2000.

MIT and Convolve allege that Seagate misappropriated confidential information that was covered by an NDA by using Convolve's technology to build a similar drive design. The technology was allegedly used by Seagate after Convolve demonstrated the tech in hopes of licensing it to Seagate.

So far, Seagate has been able to fend off the demands of $800 million in restitution made by Convolve and MIT, but a new break in the case may finally seal Seagate's fate. A former employee of Seagate named Paul Galloway has stated in a sworn affidavit that 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 at the time was a servo engineer for Seagate. The attorneys for MIT and Convolve want the affidavit entered into the court's summary judgment record. Court documents claim that the affidavit offers direct proof that Seagate destroyed, significantly altered, or improperly withheld key evidence in the case. One of the major allegations is that Seagate purposefully withheld source code that was ordered to be produced during discovery.

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