HDD maker Seagate has loaded all its legal guns for a patent infringement lawsuit against the flash-drive manufacturer STEC .
The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court in San Francisco.
According to Seagate's filing, STEC has allegedly infringed on four of the plaintiff's patents. The patents in question are about the interface between a solid state drive and a host computer, be it a server, a plain PC or a laptop
As it follows, Seagate asks the court for an injunction and unspecified damages.
Such a lawsuit was bound to happen, given Seagate’s CEO Bill Watkins' recent statements regarding the matter. Watkins publicly stated in an open letter that companies manufacturing flash drives have infringed on the company's intellectual property in order to take “shortcuts in the race to innovate”:
"This is not about stifling innovation or threats to our business. ... We have an obligation to our company and our shareholders to protect what belongs to them,"added the Seagate CEO
At present time, Seagate enjoys annual revenues of $12 billion, while STEC only made $190 million in 2007. Any bets on the winner?
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