HP and EMC Patent Conflict Come to an End

Pew ended its long-standing patent conflict with EMC and agreed to pay EMC $325 million.
According to the solution, Hewlett-Packard can pay $325 million in the form of products such as VMware server software within five years. The two sides signed a five-year mutual authorization agreement and will look for new ways of cooperation. Because a federal judge thought that HP violated EMC's data storage technology patents, the two parties began negotiations on settlements in February. Both parties have been arguing since 2002. Hewlett-Packard first filed a complaint and EMC filed a counterclaim.

Joe Bells, HP's vice president of intellectual property licensing, said: "HP is pleased to end this issue. It is positive for customers who want to increase the interoperability of solutions between vendors."

Since 1999, the two sides have begun to fight evil. HP criticized EMC for using Hitachi as a partner in the high-end storage market, claiming EMC products are outdated and proprietary intellectual property products. However, during the dispute between the two sides, HP continued to help EMC sell VMware software, which can run multiple operating systems on one workstation.