Computer Industry Suits

Microsoft Corp. is being sued for allegedly using a subjective job evaluation process that discriminates against black and female employees. Microsoft, the world's No. 1 software maker, "permits managers, who are predominantly white males, to rate employees based upon their own biases rather than based upon merit," Monique Donaldson, a former program manager at Microsoft, claims.

McKesson HBOC Inc., the largest U.S. drug wholesaler and a leading health-care software designer, said Tuesday it has sued rival W3Health Corp. and 12 former McKesson HBOC employees, accusing them of stealing software trade secrets. W3Health denied the allegations, saying in a news release that McKesson is bullying a rival that's created a superior product and is trying to discourage McKesson workers from leaving for better jobs.

In an increasingly bitter dispute, Broadcom Corp.'s chief executive fired back Tuesday at giant chip maker Intel Corp., calling a lawsuit against his company part of a "troubling practice by Intel to rely on litigation as a standard business tactic." Broadcom's Henry T. Nicholas III said it was "regrettable" that Intel "would once again resort to specious litigation in the courts rather than competition in the marketplace."

Beneath the squeaky-clean image of Silicon Valley as the heartland of technological innovation, lies a legal caldron of patent squabbles, antitrust accusations and employee poaching. A rash of lawsuits filed last week by several of the world's top electronics companies against one another is a reminder that the computer industry's reputation for fair-fighting entrepreneurship stretches only so far.

Giant computer chip maker Intel Corp. filed a sweeping federal lawsuit Wednesday against rival Broadcom Corp. charging that "nearly every aspect" of the Irvine firm's business violates Intel patents. Intel alleges in the suit, filed in Delaware, that Broadcom has constructed a "carefully crafted plan" to build its business using Intel technology.

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., the world's second-largest computer memory chip maker, said it sued Rambus Inc. alleging some of the semiconductor-design company's patents are illegal. Hyundai said "certain patents owned by Rambus Inc. are invalid, unenforceable, and not infringed by any Hyundai products," in the suit filed Tuesday at the U.S. District Court in San Jose. Hyundai's action comes a day after Micron Technology Inc., the No.

Software giant Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to let its appeal of antitrust violations be heard first by a lower appeals court, saying a thorough review is more important than a swift resolution.

The U.S. government on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to consider Microsoft Corp.'s appeal of antitrust violations on an expedited basis, rather than have the case go first to a lower appeals court. The Justice Department said in a filing that the case had "immense importance to our national economy," meeting the standard of a law providing for high court review of major government antitrust cases directly after decision by a trial court.

Microsoft Corp. urged the U.S. Supreme Court to step aside and let a federal appeals court decide whether the No. 1 software maker illegally defended its Windows monopoly and should be split in two. It would be more appropriate, the company said, for the appeals court initially to examine what Microsoft called the numerous factual, legal and procedural errors committed during the 78-day trial by U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who ordered the split.

A substantial number of the nearly 6,000 temporary workers at Microsoft Corp. face an uncertain future today because of a new policy that went into effect that limits the amount of time they can work at the company to 12 months. The workers could be eligible for reemployment after taking a mandatory 100-day break. The move is driven, in large part, by a federal lawsuit filed by a group of longtime "temporary" employees, alleging the misuse of temporary workers.