In an embarrassing climb down for chief executive Phil White, Informix Software Inc has dropped its high-profile lawsuit against database rival Oracle Corp after learning that 13 of its former employees did not disclose confidential information when they went to work for Oracle and that its trade secrets are adequately protected. Informix regrets any statements or allegations that the engineers misappropriated any trade secrets or disclosed them to Oracle, the company said. Informix had already had discovered that there appeared to be no case to answer in the suit and modified it out of all recognition back in March (CI No 3,127), but blindly plowed on with it because, we suppose, once litigation has been initiated, lawyers make it almost impossible to stop, however foolish it makes you look.
