Quantum Corp, Milpitas, California is $4m better off following settlement of the 1988 patent infringement suit it brought against Western Digital Corp, Irvine: Quantum says that the company’s patented wedge-servo architecture has been the foundation for two successful generations of OEM disk drives, one of the patents at issue, the other being the one on its Plus Development unit’s Hardcard Winchester-on-a-board; Western Digital says it no longer manufactures drives of the type covered by the settlement and that none of its current or planned products use the design of the older ones covered by the settlement; Quantum took $3m off NEC Corp in 1987 and $6m off Computer Memories Inc in 1986 over the wedge-servo.
