TECHNOLOGY - July 27, 1995
<i> Times Staff and Wire Reports</i>
Patent Fight Ends: Conner Peripherals Inc. and IBM have reached a five-year agreement giving them access to each other’s patent portfolios. The arrangement ends a dispute that began in 1993 when IBM filed a patent-infringement suit against Conner in federal court in California. In March, Conner, having just been awarded a patent for a computer hard-drive design, filed suit against IBM in New York. The Conner patent covered a method for hard drives to shut down and restart in milliseconds when needed, allowing a computer to use less energy. Details of the settlement were not released. The companies said they will ask that the lawsuits be dismissed.
