IBM has filed suit against Micro Focus, accusing the software company of illegally copying and reverse engineering IBM software in violation of copyright law.
In the legal action filed in US District Court in the Southern District of New York, IBM asserts that these actions constitute “illegal opportunism, willful infringement, and blatant breach of Micro Focus’s contractual obligation” and undermine IBM’s investments in software innovation.
Ross Mauri, GM Of IBM zSystems and LinuxONE, comments that IBM has long run successful programs aimed at fostering an ecosystem of developers that create applications for IBM’s mainframe systems, to the benefit of mutual customers.
“IBM and its customers rely on these software developers as trusted partners. Micro Focus has broken that trust, a discovery that this suit brings to light,” he says.
He adds that IBM has made significant investments over decades in research and development of IBM mainframe system technology, and will defend its intellectual property.
“Our complaint seeks monetary relief as well as an injunction against Micro Focus that would prohibit the company from continuing to harm IBM by illegally copying and distributing our software,” Mauri says.