PowerAgent Files $10-Billion Suit Against EDS

Electronic Data Systems Corp. was sued for $10 billion by a California start-up firm that claims the computer-services giant tried to force it out of business and take its technology. Closely held PowerAgent Inc. said in a lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco that EDS “engaged in a pattern of fraudulent and extortionate conduct with the intended purpose and effect of forcing PowerAgent to give control of the company and its promising technology to EDS or go into bankruptcy.” A spokeswoman for Plano, Texas-based EDS wasn’t immediately available for comment. San Diego-based PowerAgent is developing an Internet marketing system, based on a direct-advertising technology that can be targeted to specific types of computer users.