Firm’s Sales Affected by Court Order : Computers: Procom Technology must stop marketing hard drives containing information copyrighted by Compaq.

A U.S. district judge in Houston has ordered Procom Technology of Irvine to stop making and selling computer hard drives that contain information copyrighted by Compaq Computer Corp., officials at both companies said Monday.

The order, issued last Wednesday, stems from a lawsuit that Houston-based Compaq filed in May accusing Procom of violating intellectual property laws, said Frederick Judd, general counsel at Procom.

The Procom drives at the center of the dispute can be plugged into computer servers built and sold by Compaq, Judd said. Servers are fast, powerful computers used to store data and software accessed by other computers as part of a network.

The removable drives contained information that Compaq installs in its own machines as part of a diagnostic system that warns users when one of the drives is about to fail. Procom, a private company, can continue building the drives as long as it does not use that same piece of information, Judd said.

“We intend to make the minor modifications necessary to continue to ship product,” said Judd, who added that the devices represent less than 5% of Procom’s annual sales of about $45 million.

In a news release issued Monday, Compaq said the lawsuit against Procom “demonstrates that other companies will not be allowed to copy and sell information that Compaq has developed.”

Compaq, the world’s largest supplier of personal computers, has garnered a reputation for taking aggressive steps to fight competitors. In recent months, the company has accused rival Packard Bell Electronics Inc. of selling computers with used parts and failing to inform consumers of the practice.

Compaq is also suing Procom for allegedly violating patents on “hot pluggable” hard drives that can be inserted in and removed from a server while the computer is turned on. That suit is scheduled to be tried in May, Judd said.

Compaq officials were unavailable for comment.