Microsoft Replies to Sendo Suit

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-983385.html' target='_blank'>http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-983385.html</a><br /><br /></div>The battle, which we last covered <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6856">a month ago</a>, is heating up.<br /><br />"Microsoft has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by British cell phone maker Sendo, saying there was no basis to Sendo's charges that it stole technical know-how and pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy.<br /><br />Software giant Microsoft said in papers filed Monday in the federal court in Texarkana, Texas, that its one-time partner Sendo had 'consistently failed to meet its contractual obligations to design and develop' a now-scrapped multimedia phone by the agreed deadlines."<br /><br />Another article is available <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2727811.stm">here</a>.

[Sheynk]

I with MSFT on this one



on the other hand Im always with them..I have shares

[pocketpcdude1024]

Oh, boo hoo Sendo. You abandoned Microsoft and went with a compeditor's operating system, leaving Microsoft with an OS with no device to put it on. It is Microsoft who should be taking it out on your sorry hide! And now that the Smartphone is a bigger hit than you thought it would be, you thought you could make easy money by suing them? If any judge is sane they will brush away the blastphemy and see that the case has no solid foundation. :evil:

Ok, so it was harsh. It's just the way I feel. My Thoughts per se... :wink:

[Sheynk]

Oh, boo hoo Sendo. You abandoned Microsoft and went with a compeditor's operating system, leaving Microsoft with an OS with no device to put it on. It is Microsoft who should be taking it out on your sorry hide! And now that the Smartphone is a bigger hit than you thought it would be, you thought you could make easy money by suing them? If any judge is sane they will brush away the blastphemy and see that the case has no solid foundation. :evil:

Ok, so it was harsh. It's just the way I feel. My Thoughts per se... :wink:


Right there with ya

[pocketpcdude1024]

Right there with ya

Thanks! :D It's always nice to have support these days...

[heov]

this sucks... although i don't like it, msft will probably win in the long haul...

sendo had their reasons for dumping msft, and some where msft's fault and some where their own, but i just hate it when i see a good and innovative company such as sendo, who had a lot of potential, go down in ruins to a corporate giant like ms...

btw, what other smartphone devices are out there currently in production besides the orange spv?

[Duncan]

heov,

MS didn't (as far as can be seen) start this. Sendo started a lawsuit against MS first - with MS responding.

It is hard to see what the basis of Sendo's claim could be. MS had trumpeted Sendo to all as the provider of their Smartphone flagship. They also invested in the company. What would MS have had to gain from bringing Sendo to the brink of bankruptcy? Isn't it more likely the case that MS would have helped Sendo, in any way they could, to get their phone to market? It was an embarrasment to MS that the phone had not appeared after so many months.

Some early Sendo reviews and comparisons with the Orange SPV slipped through the net - and every one I have seen so far remarked that the Sendo phone seemed the better of the two - so market share was for the taking.

As to technical know-how stealing - I would be fascinated to learn just what was there to steal. There is nothing 'new' as such in the MS smartphone design - except perhaps in how it has been 'packaged' (and the OS of course - 'new-ish'). I am sure HTC did not need a hepling hand to develop the Orange SPV - I think they must have had sufficient practice with crafting small, powerful devices by now....!

So - if MS destroys Sendo - British company or not - Sendo will have brought it down upon themselves.

[PJE]

I'm with Sendo... they may not have been blameless, but I think Microsoft were/are more interested in getting a cut of the phone market than any one particular supplier's interests.

I hope this comes to a conclusion quickly, and the result - either way - is based on the evidence not on the biggest cheque book. If Sendo win then I hope Microsoft doesn't just drag it out through the courts because it has the money... as it has on every other ruling.

BTW, I like Microsoft products, but their practices over the years have not done them favors.

My 2c

PJE

[PlayAgain?]

heov,
What would MS have had to gain from bringing Sendo to the brink of bankruptcy?

Everything that Sendo has. For some reason known only to the Barmy Army of Sendo's management, an agreement was signed stating that if anything were to happen to Sendo (ie, going down), Microsoft would have everything.

Microsoft will have this so neatly sewn up, only Columbo would be able to get to the truth.

[Mike Temporale]

heov,
What would MS have had to gain from bringing Sendo to the brink of bankruptcy?

Everything that Sendo has. For some reason known only to the Barmy Army of Sendo's management, an agreement was signed stating that if anything were to happen to Sendo (ie, going down), Microsoft would have everything.

Microsoft would only have access to information based around their SmartPhone. not all of Sendo (ie: other cell phones under development by Sendo). And that makes total sense. If you are investing in a company and working with them to bring your flag ship new device to market, you need to protect that investment. If something happens and causes the company to go out of business, you don't stand to loose everything.

I'm on the MS side here. I'm sick of companies screwing things up, and then sueing MS over their own stupidity.

[rooks308]

Hmm... I hope microsoft teaches them a lesson. I am very very dissapointed in Sendo. I watched them trumpet thier phone as the next big thing and microsoft followed suit by saying how great this phone was gonna be. I can't remember anybody saying bad things about the sendo smartphone. Too bad sendo jumped ship and got in bed with Nokia and such. No offense nokia, but I really relish the idea of the smartphone talking with my Ipaq. Oh well if HTC would release the damn smartphone in the US i would be a much happier (and probably poorer $$ :lol: ) person. LOL only time........

[Cardie]

Hold on, there are two viewpoints here...

(1) Sendo shafterd themselves and are blaming MS.

In which case they deserve everythign they get.

(2) MS shafted Sendo to get all the docs of Smartphoen to pass to HTC.

In which case Sendo are well with their rights to take em to court.

Heck, Sendo were days from laucnhing the Z100, journo's had the device in their hands, you don't just suddenly pull out 2-3 years of work in a hissy fit,, *something* must have happened.


(And part of me wonders just how quickly Nokia et al will 'help' Sendo release a high visibilty Symbian OS phone. When does that court case start..)

[bagemk]

I have to be careful in what I say, but I witnessed some MS/Sendo relationships first hand a few years back.

There is no doubt in my mind at all that MS were late with the Smartphone software. In fact, that whole division went into panic mode over it.

If you look at the record, there were a significant number of managers of the mobility group that were encouraged to resign. That was not because the group was running well and on time!

It is also apparent that MS believe they have the right to "borrow" any technology they come across for their own use. I note that Microsoft do not appear to have directly addressed the accusation of technology theft. Instead, they are trying to rubbish Sendo.

For the record, I have shares in MS, but I feel in this case, they need a good bloody nose to make them a better company for the future. If MS continue with this supremely arrogant role, I do not believe they will exist in another 20 years.

[PhatCohiba]

Am I the only one who thinks that by filing this response in Texarcana, almost 200 miles away from Irving, tx (Sendo's US location) and pretty much a "My Cousin Vinny" town compared to Dallas, they are playing hardball.

hmmm...

Looks like a blood sport, but I'm glad that Microsoft has now made nice with Nvida, they can shift over those lawyers to this...

[bdegroodt]

Am I the only one who thinks that by filing this response in Texarcana, almost 200 miles away from Irving, tx (Sendo's US location) and pretty much a "My Cousin Vinny" town compared to Dallas, they are playing hardball.


"The 2 yutes couldn't find a way to get along yer honer" :P

I'm staying neutral on this one until I hear some more facts. I will say this a) any company that takes MSFT to task has some brass balls (And hopefully a HUGE bank account.) and b) I do have a bit of bias against MSFT on the surface...This isn't the first time we have heard about MSFT getting into bed with a partner and completely screwing them in the process (Not that I know this is the case here, but it has happened a number of times with these guys.).

[PhatCohiba]

Am I the only one who thinks that by filing this response in Texarcana, almost 200 miles away from Irving, tx (Sendo's US location) and pretty much a "My Cousin Vinny" town compared to Dallas, they are playing hardball.


"The 2 yutes couldn't find a way to get along yer honer" :P



I'm just trying to picture a couple of British Barristers trying to talk to some Texas Federal Judge. Lawyers in Texas look down on Yankee's, I can't even imagine the opinion of Brits there.

Any Texarcanites here? Is a UK company going to get a fair shake?

-jb

[TrojanUO]

Am I the only one who thinks that by filing this response in Texarcana, almost 200 miles away from Irving, tx (Sendo's US location) and pretty much a "My Cousin Vinny" town compared to Dallas, they are playing hardball.

hmmm...

Looks like a blood sport, but I'm glad that Microsoft has now made nice with Nvida, they can shift over those lawyers to this...

Sendo filed the original suit, this is Microsoft's response. It stands to reasont that this is the federal court in which Sendo filed the original suit.

The other article linked says that Sendo filed suit against Microsoft in -A- Texas Court, but doesn't specify the particular court.

[PhatCohiba]

Sendo filed the original suit, this is Microsoft's response. It stands to reasont that this is the federal court in which Sendo filed the original suit.

The other article linked says that Sendo filed suit against Microsoft in -A- Texas Court, but doesn't specify the particular court.


Sendo sues Microsoft over "secret plan (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-980463.html)
The lawsuit, filed last month in federal court in Texarkana, Texas, accuses Microsoft of misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition and fraud, and provides the first glimpse behind the scenes of the recent dissolution of a relationship between Sendo and Microsoft. The 27-page lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

Props to Trojan UO...

and I was hoping it was a plot? Why wouldn't sendo file in Dallas? hmm... that must be why I'm not a high powered corporate lawyer, but instead a computer geek.