Court spells it out to Avant!

Electronic News, Feb 2, 1998 by Ann Steffora

San Jose, Calif.--Apparently, Avant! doesn't know how to follow instructions. The U.S. District Court issued a more strongly-worded injunction against Avant! Corp. from the continued sale and use of some of its place-and-route products.

The order was granted, as requested by Cadence Design Systems, by Judge Ronald B. Whyte, when it learned of a series of public statements, press releases and a letter from Avant!'s president, which said the judge's ruling on Dec. 19 "does not prevent Avant! customers from continuing to use ArcCell if they so desire."

The modified order says that this latest step was to clarify the court's December preliminary injunction (EN, Dec.22, 1997) and emphasizes that its purpose was to "remove any implication that Avant!'s licensees are authorized by the preliminary injunction to continue to use the enjoined products without exposure to claims of copyright violation."

Also, according to a transcript of the modification of the preliminary injunction obtained by Electronic News, the court states, "Nothing in this modified order is intended to authorize anyone to use any Avant! product subject to this order or to suggest they could do so without exposure to a claim of violation of the copyright laws." As defined by the federal court, the Avant! products subject to the injunction order include "any product or work copied or derived from Cadence's Design Framework II, specifically including, but not limited to, Avant!'s ArcCell, ArcCellBV and ArcCellXO products." Avant! was also ordered by the court to send a copy of the ruling to all current or former customers of the products, instructing them to return or destroy the software. Avant! must also provide Cadence with a list of all customers with a functional copy of such products by Jan. 30, 1998.

In a related event, in an attempt to have the Santa Clara County District Attorney disqualified from the related criminal case, Avant! requested an evidentiary hearing, and was denied its request.