RPC Vendor Files Lawsuit Against Sun Microsystems and StorageTek for Copyright Infringement

12 December 2006

Netbula, LLC, a software company specializing in Internet development tools, announced that it filed a lawsuit against Storage Technology Corporation (StorageTek), Sun Microsystems, Inc. (SUN) and DOES 1-100. The suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland, alleges that SUN and StorageTek infringed Netbula's Copyrights.

Netbula is a leader in the development of innovations in "Remote Procedure Call" ("RPC") development tools. Netbula's main product line is its "PowerRPC" echelon, a cross-platform client/server development toolkit for Windows 98/NT/2000/ME/XP/2K3/AMD64, UNIX and Java(TM). Numerous Fortune 500 companies are Netbula customers who make use of, and benefit from, Netbula RPC products in connection with mission critical financial, healthcare, and telecommunications services.

In its complaint, Netbula alleges that StorageTek and SUN have engaged in copyright infringement and fraudulent conduct. SUN and StorageTek's acts include: 1) infringing Netbula's core technology in their LibAttach software; 2) defrauding Netbula through misrepresentations relating to the infringement; and 3) breaching a contract with Netbula. Netbula's lawsuit seeks an injunction and damages. Netbula's lawsuit also requests identification of customers who have copied the infringing software from SUN/StorageTek to include them as direct infringers of Netbula's copyright.

"Legal protection of intellectual property is the foundation of the IT industry. Large IT companies should respect the law and act as responsible members of the IT community instead of software pirates," a Netbula spokesperson said. "We have tried exhaustively to resolve this dispute with SUN in accordance with our licensing terms. Unfortunately, when faced with undeniable facts of unlawful and fraudulent conduct committed by StorageTek, SUN resorted to attempts to intimidate Netbula into forgoing its legal rights. Our only recourse is to seek the protection of the federal copyright laws from the Court."

Netbula seeks a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction and impoundment of unlicensed copies and the means of making, marketing and distributing such illegal copies in accordance of Supreme Court Copyright Rules and the Copyright Act.

Netbula invites anyone who has knowledge of the use of Netbula's RPC technology (including the "pwrpc32.dll" and "orpc.jar" files) to report such use to Netbula at sales@netbula.com.

Netbula has also set up a blog and invites anyone to exchange ideas online.

Representing Netbula is Vonnah Brillet, an experienced attorney who has recently obtained preliminary injunction and impoundment orders against other infringers of Netbula's copyrights.

More information about the suit will be posted on Netbula's web site at http://netbula.com/lawsuit/sun/.

Contact: Vonnah Brillet, legal@netbula.com, (510)-351-5345

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Source: prnewswire

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