Editing Stac Electronics (section)

==Controversy==
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=== Microsoft lawsuit ===
In 1993, [[Microsoft]] released [[MS-DOS 6.0]], which included a disk compression program called [[DoubleSpace]].  Microsoft had previously been in discussions with Stac to license its compression technology, and had discussions with Stac engineers and examined Stac's code as part of the [[due diligence]] process.  Stac, in an effort led by attorney [[Morgan Chu]], sued Microsoft for [[patent infringement|infringement]] of two of its data compression patents.<ref>[http://www.vaxxine.com/lawyers/articles/stac.html Complaint for patent infringement and Demand for jury trial] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509205650/http://www.vaxxine.com/lawyers/articles/stac.html|date=2007-05-09}} by Stac Electronics v Microsoft Corporation</ref> Meanwhile, Microsoft had filed an injunction against Stac to prevent the company from selling its Stacker 3.1 software for Windows and DOS, attracting claims from Stac representatives that with a licensing deal having been made with rival DOS vendor, Novell, and with Microsoft no longer facing action from the Federal Communications Commission, the company had become emboldened to "dominate the data compression market".<ref name="pcw199310_stac">{{ cite magazine | title=Microsoft miffed as Novell signs up Stac | magazine=Personal Computer World | date=October 1993 | pages=178 }}</ref> In 1994, a California jury ruled the infringement by Microsoft was not willful, but awarded Stac $120 million in compensatory damages, coming to about $5.50 per copy of MS-DOS 6.0 that had been sold. The jury also agreed with a Microsoft counterclaim that Stac had misappropriated the Microsoft trade secret of a pre-loading feature that was included in Stacker 3.1, and simultaneously awarded Microsoft $13.6 million on the counterclaim.<ref>[http://www.msversus.org/archive/stac.html Microsoft Loses Patent Suit] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518050821/http://www.msversus.org/archive/stac.html|date=2007-05-18}}, [[Associated Press]], 1994-02-23</ref>

While Microsoft prepared an appeal, Stac obtained a preliminary [[injunction]] from the court stopping the sales of all MS-DOS products that included DoubleSpace; by this time Microsoft had already started shipping an "upgrade" of MS-DOS to its [[Original equipment manufacturer|OEM]] customers that removed DoubleSpace.  By the end of 1994, Microsoft and Stac settled all pending litigation by agreeing that Microsoft would make a $39.9 million investment in Stac Electronics, and additionally pay Stac about $43 million in royalties on their patents.