Avant! Corp has lost a long running court battle with Silvaco Inc over Meta-Software Inc, a company Avant! acquired in 1996. Meta accused Silvaco of unlawfully using its Utmost software simulation technology in Sivaco’s competitive SmartSpice tool way back in 1993. Two years later Silvaco filed a counter claim. Now Avant! has been ordered to pay Silvaco $31.4m in damages plus costs, following the dismissal of all charges originally filed by Meta. But there’s still a second lawsuit on the go, with a scheduled trial sitting in January 1998.
