Search and retrieval company Verity Inc has filed suit against IBM’s Lotus Development Corp alleging copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract, among other charges. The suit stems from a 1992 licensing agreement in which Verity licensed certain search software to Lotus for use in its Lotus Notes product. Now Verity claims that Lotus has publicly announced it is planning to use advanced search and filtering features that are not covered in the original agreement, as well as facilitating the use of the Verity technology outside of the Notes environment. It contends that both these actions are outside Lotus’ license rights. A Verity spokesperson says that the suit comes after two months of negotiation with Lotus on a new license agreement which would cover the advancements, as well as the software included in the original license. Verity says it filed the suit – after negotiations failed to produce a new agreement – out of the need to protect its property rights. Verity still hopes that the situation can be resolved outside of court, but in the meantime has elected to terminate the original agreement based on the grounds of Lotus’ alleged breach. The suit seeks an injunction requiring Lotus to cease its use of the unlicensed software as well unspecified damages as a result of possible lost sales. Lotus would not comment on the matter.
