DEC Cites Judge’s Injunction in Case Against Emulex

Digital Equipment Corp., a Maynard, Mass., computer maker, said Thursday that a federal district judge this week granted the company a preliminary injunction in its patent infringement and unfair business practice suits against Emulex Corp. of Costa Mesa.

In a statement released Thursday night, DEC said Judge Martin F. Loughlin on Monday ordered Emulex, a major maker of DEC-compatible add-on equipment, to comply with the requests DEC made in the two suits it filed last summer until the case is decided.

Specifically, DEC said the judge’s action prevents Emulex from developing or selling products to work with certain DEC technology, using a former DEC employee to work on DEC-compatible products and further using DEC documents taken by the former employee.

In response, Emulex Chairman Fred B. Cox downplayed the significance of the ruling. “First, the injunction has no effect on our current products or revenues. It, in fact, does not prohibit our continuing shipment of any products announced or currently in production,” Cox said in a statement.

In addition, Cox said the company intends to appeal the ruling, which it believes to be “clearly in error.”

DEC filed two suits against Emulex last July alleging that it had infringed on its patents and gotten access to its trade secrets through the hiring of its former engineering director, Charles Hess.