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Journalism of Courage
Microsoft Corp said on Monday it did not expect a lawsuit to delay Vista, a new version of its Windows operating system.
Last week Symantec Corp sued Microsoft, accusing it of misappropriating trade secrets used in Vista.
Asked whether the case would have any impact on the Vista roll-out, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said: 8216;8216;I wouldn8217;t anticipate any, but that will go to the courts now.8217;8217;
Ballmer, speaking in Beijing after a news conference, did not elaborate.
Symantec is also seeking an injunction that would block the further development, sale or distribution of Vista and other products until all Symantec intellectual property is removed.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle charges the world8217;s biggest software maker with misappropriating intellectual property and breach of contract related to a licensing deal with Veritas, which Symantec acquired last year.
The dispute centers on a Symantec product called Volume Manager, which allows operating systems to store and manipulate large amounts of data.
The lawsuit was the latest blow to Microsoft and Vista, which was delayed in March along with business software suite Office 2007 until January 2007.
