Symantec Corp has filed a lawsuit against security and management company McAfee Associates Inc following claims the company stole software code and implanted it in its products. Cupertino, California-based Symantec said McAfee stole code from Symantec’s Norton CrashGuard product and incorporated it in its PC Medic application, both products addressing crash protection and recovery. Symantec wants McAfee to recall all PC Medic products and is seeking an injunction to prevent further shipment. The company has also said it will be seeking to reclaim all profits McAfee has made from the sales of PC Medic. Symantec’s claims are said to have been confirmed by analysis carried out by software consulting company, Thuridion Inc. Thuridion’s chief technical officer Patrick Hendry said: After careful review of the technique used by Norton CrashGuard and McAfee PC Medic, we found them to be uncharacteristically similar. Symantec’s chief technology officer Enrique Salam said copyright infringement was becoming an increasing problem within the industry as people are put under more and more pressure to do things faster. The lawsuit contends that Santa Clara, California-based McAfee knowingly stole patent pending code from Norton CrashGuard which was launched last September, and put it into PC Medic in time for its launch in March this year. Jeff Barnes, McAfee’s director for Northern Europe said the company had received the lawsuit and will be acting accordingly.
