[ISN] CA sued (again): This time for $800m

[InfoSec News]

http://software.silicon.com/applications/0,39024653,39121939,00.htm

Will Sturgeon
silicon.com
July 06, 2004

Computer Associates has been hit with an $800m lawsuit by a group of
three Canadian security companies that claim the New York-based
software giant ripped off their intellectual property when developing
its own security applications.

CA is also accused of serious breaches of contract in the court
filing, though the company denies any wrongdoing and says the filing
lacks any merit.

NI Group, Scienton Technologies and Secure-IT claim CA stole concepts
and software as well as failing to honour a contract to pay up for
development and implementation work carried out for a number of CA
customers.

At the centre of the accusations are two CA products - eTrust 20/20
and Command Center. In both instances, it is claimed CA stole ideas
and intellectual property from the complainants following previous
work carried out with the Ontario-based companies.

The lawsuit, filed with a federal court in New York, claims damages in
excess of $800m and while a CA spokesman claimed the accusations have
"no merit", its second major lawsuit in recent weeks is further
evidence of the company's troubled and ongoing attempts to haul itself
out of a two-year-long lawsuit and federal investigation-related
malaise.

Major investor and long-term boardroom agitator Sam Wyly recently
announced his intention to seek damages of around $1bn from Computer
Associates.