Symantec Is Target of Patent-Infringement Suit

CyberMedia, a fast-growing developer of software programs that help computers run better, filed suit this week seeking to remove from the marketplace a competing product by industry giant Symantec.

The lawsuit, alleging copyright infringement and theft of trade secrets, claims that the computer code in Symantec’s Norton Uninstall Deluxe is derived from CyberMedia’s competing product, UnInstaller. Both products allow computer users to erase software programs from their hard drives.

In the suit, Santa Monica-based CyberMedia asked the court to order Symantec to stop selling Norton Uninstall Deluxe and to recall all copies from distributors and retailers. The suit, filed late Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, also seeks unspecified compensatory and exemplary damages.

“In visual appearance, operation and design, Symantec’s product is strikingly similar to an early version of UnInstaller, right down to some of the same computer bugs,” said Bob Davis, CyberMedia’s vice president of marketing.

Gordon Eubanks, president and chief executive of Cupertino-based Symantec, said his company’s lawyers are studying the suit, but that “it seems to me this is a competitor trying to go after us because we have a more successful product.”

In Nasdaq trading Thursday, CyberMedia shares fell 2 cents to close at $67.73. Symantec was unchanged at $24.38.