A superior US court has ordered Avant Corporation to pay $182
million to rival electronic design company Cadence Design Systems,
Inc. The court ruled in favour of Cadence following a lengthy
dispute between the competing companies over Avant’s use of
computer code, which had been developed by Cadence, in one of its
ArcCell product.
The case began in 1995 when Cadence alleged that the group of
its former employees responsible for establishing ArcSys (the
precursor of Avant) had taken valuable trade secret information
with them upon their departure from Cadence. The court ordered
payment to Cadence after Avant submitted four pleas that did not
contest the allegations made against it regarding the theft of
software code.
In response to the court ruling, president and CEO of Cadence
Ray Bingham commented:
"The decision by Superior Court Judge Conrad
Rushing to require Avant! Corporation to pay $182 million plus
interest in restitution is a clear sign that the court recognizes
the importance of protecting intellectual property and establishes
that trade secret theft will not be tolerated in Silicon
Valley.
"The purpose of the criminal proceeding is
to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions, arresting
criminal behavior and deterring others from violating the law.
These purposes have been served."
Following the court ruling, a $27 million fine has been imposed
upon Avant in addition to fines against individuals associated with
Avant amounting to $8 million and the possibility of five
individuals being sentenced for their criminal activities.
According to a recent press release from Cadence, it intends to
aggressively pursue the case against Avant in the civil courts in
order to realise the maximum amount of damages available. In
addition, the company is seeking a permanent injunction to prevent
Avant from marketing any products that are based on proprietary
codes or other trade secrets stolen from Cadence.
