Microsoft drops Dblsp
SK...@holonet.net
announcement from the Stac BBS:
*******************************************************************
* FEB 23,1994 13:19 PACIFIC 16:19 EASTERN *
* Stac wins software patent infringement lawsuit against *
* Microsoft; jury awards $120 million in damages to Stac *
* *
* LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 1994-- Stac Electronics *
* (NASDAQ:STAC), a leading supplier of data compression products *
* for doubling the storage capacity of personal computers, *
* announced Wednesday that it has won its patent infringement *
* lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Washington *
* The jury awarded Stac $120 million in compensatory damages for *
* Microsoft's past infringement. The jury also found in favor *
* of Stac on Microsoft's counterclaims of patent infringement *
* and breach of contract.Judge Rafeedie had earlier ruled in *
* Stac's favor on Microsoft's counterclaim of fraud. *
* In the first patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft to *
* ever reach trial, the jury unanimously found that Microsoft *
* infringed two of Stac's patents, U.S. Patent No. 5,016,009 *
* "Data Compression Apparatus and Method," and No. 4,701,745 *
* "Data Compression System," in the DoubleSpace disk *
* compression utility included in its MS-DOS version 6 operating *
* system for IBM compatible personal computers. *
* The company intends to file a motion with the Court asking for *
* apermanent injunction enjoining Microsoft from shipping MS-DOS *
* 6 withDoubleSpace and from infringing upon Stac's patented data*
* compressiontechnology in any other manner. *
* "This is a landmark decision with respect to software patents. *
* We are pleased the jury has found that our patents are valid *
* and enforceable and that Microsoft's MS-DOS 6 product *
* infringes," said Gary Clow, chairman and chief executive *
* officer of Stac Electronics. *
* "However, we are concerned that the jury has found that *
* Microsoft can protect undocumented calls as trade secrets. *
* Both of these decisions will have a profound effect on how *
* companies, both large and small, compete in the software *
* industry." *
* The jury found in Microsoft's favor on only one of Microsoft's *
* seven counterclaims. Microsoft was awarded approximately *
* $13.6 million in damages for misappropriation of trade *
* secrets. The counterclaim stemmed from Stac's attempts to *
* make Stacker 3.1 compatible with an undocumented data *
* compression interface in MS-DOS 6. *
* The trial, which lasted for four weeks, followed by six days of*
* jury deliberations, was the result of a patent infringement *
* suit brought by Stac against Microsoft on Jan. 25, 1993. *
* Stac Electronics is a leading supplier of high-performance data*
* compression products for personal computers. Implemented in *
* software and silicon, Stac's products are sold direct from the*
* company and through retail and OEM sales distribution channels*
* worldwide. *
* --30--MZ/sd *
* CONTACT: Stac Electronics, Carlsbad *
* Louis Leslie, 619/431-7474 *
* or *
* Jennings & Co., San Francisco *
* Greg Peverill-Conti, 415/974-6200 *
*******************************************************************
David A. Fuess
>To those of you interested in the Stac vs. MS suit, here's the
>announcement from the Stac BBS:
>
Ok, so now we know what it means to Stack and Microsoft. But it
is the rest of us who will ultimately pay for this. I wonder
what's next. Microsoft will release its non-compression version
of DOS 6.2 and Stack will still not be able to compete because
the suit protects Microsofts undocumented features as trade
secrets. We will, at least for now, end up with unsupportable
systems (those who have already DoubleSpaced their disks) with
limited hope for short term relief. Will future versions
of DOS support the current compression format, or will we
have to decompress first?
--
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V dfu...@netcom.com | da...@angmar.llnl.gov V
Timothy F. Sipples
>>To those of you interested in the Stac vs. MS suit, here's the
>>announcement from the Stac BBS:
>is the rest of us who will ultimately pay for this. I wonder
>what's next. Microsoft will release its non-compression version
>of DOS 6.2 and Stack will still not be able to compete because
>the suit protects Microsofts undocumented features as trade
>secrets. We will, at least for now, end up with unsupportable
>systems (those who have already DoubleSpaced their disks) with
>limited hope for short term relief. Will future versions
>of DOS support the current compression format, or will we
>have to decompress first?
Actually, there's an important thread going on in comp.os.os2.advocacy
(which is perhaps not the appropriate place).
IBM PC-DOS 6.3 is days away from release. It (as well as the
currently available PC-DOS 6.1 with the compression upgrade diskette)
includes SuperStor/DS. SuperStor/DS reads and writes DoubleSpace
compressed drives. It is now the only product on the market which
will do so. PC-DOS was not the subject of the Stac lawsuit. It is
not likely to be the subject of lawsuit from either Stac or Microsoft
(see comp.os.os2.advocacy for details).
So, in other words, if you want to read your DoubleSpace drives, IBM
PC-DOS 6.3 looks like the logical choice.
--
Timothy F. Sipples | READ the OS/2 Frequently Asked Questions List
si...@kimbark.uchicago.edu | 2.1D, available from 192.153.46.2, anonymous
IBMMail ID: I1007777 | ftp, in /pub/os2/all/info/faq.
1101 E. 58th Chicago 60637 | OS/2 2.11 Update: ftp software.watson.ibm.com
Tim Sheets
SKO|announcement from the Stac BBS:
SKO|* FEB 23,1994 13:19 PACIFIC 16:19 EASTERN *
SKO|* Stac wins software patent infringement lawsuit against *
SKO|* Microsoft; jury awards $120 million in damages to Stac *
Thanks for posting that, it was interesting, and nice to see something
first hand, instead of bits and pieces of what has been heard here or
there.
* SLMR 2.1a * FOURFIGNEWTONS -- German diet plan.
R.D.Eager
>is the rest of us who will ultimately pay for this. I wonder
>what's next. Microsoft will release its non-compression version
>of DOS 6.2 and Stack will still not be able to compete because
>the suit protects Microsofts undocumented features as trade
>secrets. We will, at least for now, end up with unsupportable
>systems (those who have already DoubleSpaced their disks) with
>limited hope for short term relief. Will future versions
>of DOS support the current compression format, or will we
>have to decompress first?
Easy. Move to PC-DOS 6.3 in the very near future.
Bob
--
Bob Eager
Phone: +44 227 764000 ext 7500
CompuServe: 100016,2770
richard.p.garrett
I think the "undocumented feature issue" regarding stacker only
affects their conversion program that converts a DoubleSpace Drive
to a Stacker drive. I believe the feature whereby stacker gets hooked
into the DOS kernel is not affected, since I remember reading a
long time ago that the DoubleSpace/DOS API had been published by
Microsoft when DOS 6.0 was first released. The press releases regarding
the so called "undocumented feature issue" have not been specific
and have led to a lot of confusion.
Rich Garrett
r...@mhcnet.att.com
Jen Kilmer
>>We will, at least for now, end up with unsupportable systems
Define "unsupportable". Anything that uses the DoubleSpace compression
algorithim is being ripped out of msdos and other products, yes, but
product support will continue to support DoubleSpace. Microsoft has stated
that customers who have purchased DoubleSpace can continue to use it, and
I know that 6.21 Upgrade is being put together in a way that it won't
prevent those who have DoubleSpace from using it.
>>Will future versions of DOS support the current compression format,
>>or will we have to decompress first?
I & many others are running future versions of DOS (6.21 & later) and
nobody's decompressed yet.
>IBM PC-DOS 6.3 is days away from release. It (as well as the
>currently available PC-DOS 6.1 with the compression upgrade diskette)
>includes SuperStor/DS. SuperStor/DS reads and writes DoubleSpace
>compressed drives. It is now the only product on the market which
>will do so.
If you already have DoubleSpace, well, there's also MSDOS. BTW, don't
run ScanDisk (from MSDOS 6.2, released BEFORE PC-DOS' compression) on a
compressed drive created with PC-DOS. Apparently they didn't copy our
CVF format totally; and, total data loss is the usual result.
-jen
--
not speaking for microsoft -=- je...@microsoft.com -=- msdos testing
"About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love
you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some
won't like you at all." - from _Venus Envy_, by Rita Mae Brown
Stephane Evoy (Yep! That's me!)
>In article <1994Feb27.0...@midway.uchicago.edu> si...@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>>>We will, at least for now, end up with unsupportable systems
>
>Define "unsupportable". Anything that uses the DoubleSpace compression
>algorithim is being ripped out of msdos and other products, yes, but
>product support will continue to support DoubleSpace. Microsoft has stated
>that customers who have purchased DoubleSpace can continue to use it, and
>I know that 6.21 Upgrade is being put together in a way that it won't
>prevent those who have DoubleSpace from using it.
>
That's right. Actually, that is not much of an accomplishment. DBLSPACE
was designed to be quite "independant" of the rest of the DOS. The best
example I can think of is the ability to downdrade from DOS 6 to DOS 5
witout having to decompress your drive. I was able to scrap DOS 6 and go
back to DOS 5 without any problems with my DBLSPACE drive! (At least,
that's the feeling I have from my personal experience...)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Stephane Evoy
Department of Engineering Physics
Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal
"The first net artist who works without a trapeze..."
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