The McData/Brocade suit started when McData filed a motion against Brocade, claiming Brocade's SilkWorm 3800 and SilkWorm 12000 switches infringed on McData's U.S. Patent number 6,233,236, which defines "Method and Apparatus for Measuring Traffic Within a Switch."
The disagreement centered on an OEM deal Brocade and McData struck in 1999, which apparently covered a number of technologies owned by both companies. Brocade maintained the technology in question, which has to do with frame filtering on SAN switches, was covered under the agreement, but McData disagreed (see McData Fires Lawsuit at Brocade, McData vs. Brocade: Ding Ding!, and Brocade 1, McData 0). The legal volleying included counter-charges by Brocade that McData "misappropriated trade secret information."
No one seems to recall exactly why Brocade and McData, longstanding rivals in the Fibre Channel switch market, would draw up a cross-licensing agreement in the first place. Spokespeople for both companies have no comment, as the new agreement apparently binds them to secrecy.
Neither McData, which holds 37 patents, nor Brocade, with three, is a stranger to patent litigation. Both were sued last year by Raytheon Co. (see doclink 27278}), and both have settled their respective disputes. Brocade also has been sued by Vixel Corp. (Nasdaq: VIXL), and the process is still in the early stages (see Vixel Slings Suit at Brocade).
Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch
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