( ESNUG 538 Item 11 ) ------------------------------------------- [10/13/14]
From: [ John Cooley of DeepChip.com ]
Subject: Aart's SUE RIVALS policy backfires to tune of $36 M in damages
Late last Friday afternoon (3 days ago) MENT issued a press release that a
jury in the U.S. District Court in Oregon had just awarded Mentor Graphics
$36 million in damages "plus certain royalties" from Synopsys, Inc. for
SNPS/EVE infringing MENT's U.S. Patent No. 6,240,376.
On Saturday afternoon, SNPS issued a press release confirming this.
And now for the untold backstory...
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
The easiest way to tell this story is through a quick timeline:
1996
to
2000 - From the $13.7 million Meta Systems acquisition, Luc Burgun
is the director of HW emulation R&D at Mentor.
  
2000 - Luc leaves to found EVE. A number of ex-Meta-Systems people
from MENT naturally join Luc at his new start-up.
2005
to
2009 - EVE ZeBu boxes do well with users. They sell like crazy.
"Three Engineers review the Eve ZeBu Accelerator"
http://www.deepchip.com/items/0451-07.html
"Two more Users yarping about EVE ZeBu emulation"
http://www.deepchip.com/items/0454-18.html
"Yet another user yarping on EVE ZeBu emulation"
http://www.deepchip.com/items/0465-15.html
"We use EVE ZeBu-XXL 8 along with Bluespec BSV"
http://www.deepchip.com/items/0476-05.html
"Fujitsu engineer's detailed eval of EVE ZeBu"
http://www.deepchip.com/items/0483-10.html
That's on the business side. On the legal side things are not so happy.
2005
to
2012 - In 2004, lawyer talks between MENT and EVE. Threats and drama
and lawyer things happen. Details murky. It gets settled
in 2006 when MENT licenses 3 patents to EVE for $250 K (total)
with provisio if EVE gets acquired these licenses terminate.
In 2010, MENT sues EVE for a different other patent.
In 2011, MENT adds 2 more other patents to this new EVE suit.
The Xilinx Virtex Readback feature and the Japanese Customs
office are somehow involved.
 
By April 2012, EVE ZeBu users are openly concerned:
"Should we consider not buying a ZeBu box for fear of
being drawn into the suits? (i.e. Is there any customer
liability for using a product that is later found to be
violating another company's patents?)"
- http://www.deepchip.com/items/0501-01.html
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Then in August 2012, the rumor mill says Intel had told Aart de Geus that
SNPS must acquire EVE to keep Intel happy:
"I've recently heard from certain sources a rumor that Synopsys
has made a bid to acquire EVE and its line of Zebu HW emulators
in order to counter the Cadence Paladium offering in the Intel
bid. EVE pulls in $60 million a year. I've heard that roughly
$25 million of that is in sales to Intel. What better way to
force Intel into your arms than by encircling them?"
- from http://www.deepchip.com/items/0510-06.html
And in a weird course of events, a full 7 days before SNPS announces the
EVE acquisition, Aart's attack lawers sue MENT about EVE. 7 days before!
"Did you get that?
Aart's buying EVE (as I reported 48 days ago) and instead of
waiting for MENT to transfer the MENT-EVE patent lawsuit to SNPS,
Aart's lawyers went on the immediate offensive to:
1.) move the lawsuit out of Oregon and into San Jose, CA
2.) have the MENT patents involved declared invalid, and
3.) if valid, have the court declare SNPS/EVE ZeBu doesn't
infringe the MENT patents involved.
And, as a kicker, Aart's lawyers wants MENT to pay attorney fees,
costs and expenses"...
- from http://www.deepchip.com/items/0510-06.html
Sept 27th Aart's lawyers sue MENT. Oct 4th SNPS announces EVE aquisition.
Talk about aggressive!
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
2013 - REACTIONS TO THE SNPS-EVE AQUISITION
While many EDA USERS didn't care -- or they thought EVE being acquired by
SNPS was good -- because it stabilized a tool supplier:
GOOD : synergy of different tools make the Synopsys ecosystem more
complete.
Neutral. ZeBu is not going away. It's just moving to Moutain View.
Neutral. Same stuff, different sales guy.
GOOD. Strong competition to Palladium will make things better for
emulation users.
Bad. EVE support will go down the toilet. SolvNet HELL for us.
- from http://www.deepchip.com/items/0517-04.html
A great many of the EDA VENDORS were quite furious at how cheaply EVE was
sold for:
$%*&#! $150 M for $60 M in EVE revenue? No wonder VC's hate EDA!
BAD. Luc and Lauro don't know how to negotiate a merger. WTF?
They got a multiple under 3X ????
BAD for EVE. They sold too cheap!
BAD. $150 M for EVE is a early Christmas for Aart. He'll make
a killing.
SAD. Lauro worked 10 long years for this miniscule return?
BAD. I heard that SNPS threatened EVE's French investors with
Mentor lawsuit FUD, scaring them into selling for no margin.
BAD. Aart took them to the cleaners. Bad for EDA VC investments.
Bad news for the industry. Bought for a song.
We are a venture funded private company. If your rumor of a
$150 M price tag is correct, that's not a very good multiple for
a company the size of EVE. It's a bad "comp" for the rest of us.
$150 M? Good for Synopsys, bad for EVE.
- from http://www.deepchip.com/items/0517-05.html
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
PART OF AART'S LEGACY:
When a dog bites a 4-year-old kid in a local playground, it's not the dog's
fault. The dog is just being a dog, doing what dogs naturally do. It is
the dog's owner who is at fault.
  
The same can be said of SNPS Corporate Lawyers. When they attack a small
rival EDA start-up, the lawyers sue on Aart's command. That is, they NEVER
act without Aart's express permission to attack.
 
So Nassda/Magma/Extreme-DA/Atoptech did NOT "just get sued by SNPS lawyers."
They each got sued because Aart told his lawyers to sue each of them. This
is how corporate lawyers work -- on the direct orders of the company CEO.
  
As an engineer I'm perfectly happy to see companies "fight" by creating a
better EDA tool to lure customers away to their side. That's called healthy
competition. But it feels dirty when I see attack lawyers being used to
"compete" instead. It's not honorable. It's not what good people do.
"But what about those situations where the evil start-ups are stealing our
patents, John? Doesn't SNPS deserve justice???? Or do you just hate SNPS?"
Sorry, I'm not buying it.
After watching the CCT, Quickturn, Avanti, Magma, Extreme-DA, Atoptech, BDA,
and now MENT/EVE lawsuits over the years -- I feel "seeking justice" is NOT
the true motivation when any Big 3 EDA company sues a small rival start-up.
I'm simply not buying it.
So in my view it's good news for EDA users to hear that Aart's "SUE RIVALS"
strategy has backfired with a jury awarding MENT $36 million in damages
for SNPS to pay. Hopefully it'll encourage Aart to use attack lawyers less;
and to focus his $$$ and people back on making better tools instead.
- John Cooley
DeepChip.com Holliston, MA
Join
Index
Next->Item
|
|
