IBM runs over Platform Solutions

IBM has dropped a patent infringement suit on upstart mainframe house Platform Solutions accusing it of a raft of IP-related transgressions.

IBM has not commented on the suit. In a statement on its website, California-based Platform Solutions said Big Blue had accused it of infringing on five patents, and of breaching a licensing agreement for IBM software.

The suit also “seeks a judicial declaration that its refusal to license patents to PSI and its refusal to license IBM software for use on PSI systems is not anti-competitive and does not violate the antitrust laws”.

According to news.com, IBM claims Platform Solutions’ emulator software infringees its patents, and that the firm is only licensed as an enduser for IBM’s mainframe software.

Platform Solutions said it was “disappointed” that IBM had resorted to litigation, but was “confident in its legal position and that it will ultimately prevail in this litigation”.

Platform Solutions was founded by a bunch of ex-Amdahl engineers, and produces mainframe class machines running IBM’s z/OS as well a Linux, Unix and Windows, on Itanium processors. Its backers, you may or may not be surprised to hear, include Intel.®