American History 1988
Chapter 148 - 142 Responding to the Lawsuit

Chapter 148: Chapter 142 Responding to the Lawsuit

In late April, Byte Software officially began to warm up for the upcoming release of Teams 2.0 version.

According to the official update schedule, the latest version could meet everyone as early as the beginning of May, which is one week later.

However, unlike the original plan to focus on the dual-mode voice feature, this time Byte Software shifted its emphasis to the optimization and smoothness of the software.

As long as your computer has the most basic sound card configuration, even if it’s a five-year-old antique, Teams 2.0 will run smoothly.

Furthermore, the new version would greatly reduce the data transmission requirements within a local area network. In short, Teams 2.0’s dependence on hardware would no longer be a focus, and phenomena such as crashes and freezing would be effectively improved.

As for the high-definition voice mode, it would also be mentioned in passing. However, after the update, it would firstly be available only in the test version, for which additional applications are required.

The purpose of doing this was nothing more than to prepare for a potential lawsuit. If Bell South raised allegations, Byte Software could throw their brand new algorithm right in their face.

By this time, a week had passed since Byte Software received the attorney letter from Bell South, and everything seemed calm as if nothing had happened.

"Alex, has there been any response from Byte Software to our attorney letter?" This time, William Kennard clearly remembered that they had initiated action a week ago, no reminder needed.

Alex, who had just walked into the office, shrugged, "Boss, we haven’t received any feedback from the Cooley law firm."

Although the attorney letter was sent out in the name of Bell South, it was actually AT&T’s California headquarters that was driving the lawsuit.

Officially, the seven Bell companies had completed their divestiture from the now AT&T in 1984, and each operated independently.

But after all, they came from the same group, and the current executives of these companies were even colleagues who previously sat together.

So for William Kennard, it was not a difficult task to have Bell South initiate a lawsuit against Byte Software.

Especially after William showed Bell South the LAN calling feature of the Teams software, Bell South also felt that Byte Software was a threat.

Thus, it was only logical for Byte Software to receive the attorney letter, and even for the convenience of the upcoming lawsuit, AT&T took the initiative to undertake the task of assembling the relevant legal team.

Bell South sent just one lawyer representative, and up to this point, all evidence gathering and information inquiries were being led by AT&T.

Similarly, as the host in California, AT&T also possessed abundant legal resources locally. The law firm they hired was Cooley from San Francisco.

Early on, this firm was involved in the establishment of National Semiconductor and managed the IPOs of companies like Genentech and Amgen.

From these credentials, it’s evident that Cooley is particularly adept at legal affairs for high-tech companies.

Indeed, they had their second office in Menlo Park, Silicon Valley.

What Dean and his colleagues imagined, the scenario where Bell South would be out of its element in California, was not going to happen. Their real opponent was AT&T.

Honestly, William Kennard’s initial goal was to acquire the ADPCM technology patents from Bell South.

After the technology transfer was completed, AT&T could directly initiate a lawsuit against Byte Software, thus using more resources.

Moreover, without the intermediary step, the chances of winning the lawsuit would also appropriately increase.

However, for some unknown reason, Bell South did not agree to such a transaction, much to William Kennard’s regret.

"Just have our lawyers take action, Byte Software won’t make contact with us anymore."

The calm was the best proof that Byte Software was refusing to negotiate; they evidently did not take the attorney letter seriously.

So if that was the case, William Kennard no longer harbored any expectations. He had originally thought the other party would try to settle privately.

By then, AT&T could have easily manipulated Byte Software. If things went smoothly, they might even have been able to completely take over Teams.

Well, apparently that young man was not as gentlemanly as he had seemed at the airport.

"I’ll notify Cooley Law Firm right away," Alex had already mentally condoled Byte Software. Facing a giant like AT&T, there was almost no second outcome.

...

"Dean, the agreement you wrote before was good. The National Science Foundation has preliminarily completed the technical verification, and the list will be announced soon."

In the Stanford campus, after just finishing a class, Professor Donald Knuth was chatting with Dean as they walked.

"Thank you for your help, Professor Knuth," With the season moving into spring, Dean’s mood was as bright as the California sun.

His three million US Dollar investment was coming into the season of harvest soon.

"I heard that Byte Software encountered some trouble?" Professor Knuth, although not too concerned with the outside world, still knew something about what was happening to his students.

After greeting a passing female student, Dean shrugged, "It seems the news has already spread everywhere."

Byte Software had just received the summons from the Federal District Court of California, but the news seemed to have already flown across the entirety of Silicon Valley.

"Trouble?" Knuth, carrying his textbooks, continued leisurely walking to his lab.

"It’s a patent dispute. But Byte Software already has a contingency plan in place. The worst outcome would be a protracted lawsuit."

"Which aspect of the patent?" Knuth pushed his glasses up his face.

"ADPCM voice coding technology," Dean then explained the detailed technical issues related with Teams and the possible moves by Southern Bell to Knuth.

"Their practice goes against the very purpose of the International Standards Organization’s founding," Knuth shook his head in disappointment. "This won’t bring them much benefit; on the contrary, the damage to their reputation might be greater.

"However, I’ve seen even greedier practices. The light of liberty and democracy is no longer the code of conduct for America’s elite class. The destructive power of capital might slowly magnify in the next decade."

"Perhaps not everyone is concerned with these things~" Dean had little interest in politics and was less involved nowadays.

Moreover, it was difficult for him to ensure that he wouldn’t become one of those elites who consider lawsuits as a common tactic.

Hearing Dean’s sigh, Knuth nodded in agreement. "Nowadays, people indeed do not care about these things. But speaking of voice coding technology, do you need help? Winton might have a solution."

"No, not for now, Byte Software’s lawyers can handle it." Before clashing with Southern Bell, Dean didn’t want to prematurely utilize his connections.

Especially someone like Knuth, a researcher with tremendous academic prestige, the winner of the Turing Award, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, recipient of the National Science Foundation Award, Ford Award, Franklin Award, von Neumann Medal...

There are too many—such a connection should usually be saved for emergencies.

Don’t overextend your network, especially when mutual interests aren’t deeply intertwined, Dean often reminded himself.

Hearing Dean say that he could handle everything, Knuth nodded smilingly, "That’s good to hear. Litigation is especially common in America, particularly in Silicon Valley. You’ll get used to it."

Well, if even the good-natured Knuth thinks litigation is a part of life in America, what is there for Dean to doubt?

...

"Lawyer Feldman, what do you make of Southern Bell’s complaint?" Now, what lay in front of Dean was a summons from the Northern District Court of California, along with the complaint drafted by the law firm of Cooley.

"Dean, our opponent this time might not actually be Southern Bell," Boris Feldman pointed at the Cooley law firm’s seal on the complaint, "they’re an old friend of ours."

WSGR and Cooley both operate in Silicon Valley, and although the latter’s headquarters is in San Francisco, they are bona fide business competitors.

"According to the intelligence I’ve gathered, Southern Bell has only sent one attorney representative; the rest is all AT&T people orchestrating everything in the background."

"AT&T?" Dean furrowed his brows in confusion, "Haven’t they been broken up and operate independently now?"

"But that doesn’t stop them from collaborating. You know, Dean, there’s no law that prevents split companies from working together."

"Okay, so the real entity trying to take us down is AT&T?" Dean was puzzled. The other party’s business was long-distance telephone services, and Teams didn’t seem to be a threat to them at the moment.

"In fact, Bit Software might be perceived as a threat not just by AT&T," Boris Feldman marked the key points on the complaint with a pen.

"Besides the previous patent infringement lawsuit, we’re also being accused of unfair competition."

"WTF?" Dean looked startled at Boris Feldman, "Isn’t that our breakthrough for a countersuit against them?"

"Southern Bell believes that Teams’ free calling service is contesting local telephone business with local telephone companies.

And because our service is free, they allege that we are engaging in unfair competition."

"Bullshit~" Dean was once again shocked by the shamelessness of these giant corporations, "Don’t they know we’re a software company?"

"That doesn’t matter, Dean," Boris Feldman gestured with his hands, looking for the right words, "you can’t expect those judges to understand the difference between free calling via software and regular telephony.

By doing this, apart from intentionally disrupting our rhythm, they’re also trying to exaggerate the threat of Bit Software, hoping other telephone companies will rally against us."

"Wow~" Dean finally witnessed the extent to which corporations could use litigation tactically, "So how should we respond?"

"The federal court requires us to respond within 21 days; we need to formulate our response before then. Otherwise, we will be subjected to a default judgment, which is essentially surrendering.

However, there’s no need to hasten; delaying is beneficial for me. At the moment, there are two suitable ways to respond: one is to answer, which is to counter the allegations in the complaint.

Another is to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, generally done when we believe there are significant flaws in the complaint."

"What’s your recommendation?" Dean was ready to hear the professional opinion of Boris Feldman.

"Dismiss the lawsuit!" Boris Feldman struck the table with every word he spoke, his attitude unyieldingly firm.

"Dean, remember our initial analysis. We adopted an international public standard; thus, all their allegations of infringement are invalid.

While the final outcome may not be as such, it gives us the opportunity to explain to the judge the difference between Teams software and regular telephony clearly."

Dismissing may not indeed eradicate the opponent’s will to sue, but it can grant Bit Software more opportunities.

"OK, I trust my team of lawyers," Dean decided with a firm slam.

Knock, knock, knock~ Just as Dean and his team finished discussing their defensive measures, Anna appeared at the door.

"Boss, that Mr. Valentine..."

"Dean, it’s me, I’m back again!" Valentine’s figure hadn’t yet appeared, but his voice had already preceded him.