History (1993): SyQuest/Nomaï (Continuing)

In their respective press releases, SyOuest Technology Inc. (Fremont, CA) and Nomaï SA (Avranches, France), manufacturer of cartridges compatible with those of its Californian competitor, have different versions on the recent decision of the English Court of Justice in London, UK.

According to Nomaï: “SyQuest has asked the English court to order a temporary injunction vs. Nomaï but, when the strong partnership of Iomega and Nomaï surprised them by proposing financial security, SyQuest decided to accept this instead.”

“No one minds providing a letter of credit which he does not expect to have to pay. SyQuest suggested that Nomaï cartridges were not of high quality, but in the end it all came down to a question of money. We have no doubts we will win the trial which we understand will take within about a year,” said Marc Frouin, Nomaï’s president.

This time, according to SyOuest, the court “has entered a consent order including an undertaking by Iomega to provide $750,000 bank security to SyQuest to cover potential damages from Nomaï cartridges sold in the UK pending judgement at trial.”

“We are confident that we will succeed at trial, and we are pleased that there is now money available to pay very substantial damages we will be seeking at trial along with a permanent injunction,” added Syed Iftikar, COB, president and CEO of the US firm.

On another point, the interpretation of the justice decision is quite different.

Nomaï: “SyQuest has for now voluntarily agreed with Nomaï to sell its SyQuest compatible cartridges in the UK.”

SyOuest: “Iomega Europe and Nomaï also agreed not to solicit SyQuest’s major UK distributors to purchase Nomaï cartridges.”

The French manufacturer said they have now sold more than 100,000 cartridges worldwide.

The Californian one also announced that it has been notified that the European Patent Office will shortly grant a patent on key features of its 5.25-inch disk cartridges.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue 70, published on November 1993.

Note: Nomaï was bought by Iomega in 1998, ceasing production of all products in 1999.

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