Pure Storage has responded to EMC's allegations that the former poached on its employees and stole trade secrets, by filing a complaint, which the company has dubbed as 'Round 2,' that says EMC had stolen its technology.
Earlier in November this year, EMC accused rival Pure Storage for stealing its top trade secrets. EMC, which provides cloud computing, big data and trusted IT solutions to businesses, has filed a lawsuit against Pure Storage on the grounds of conspiring with its former employees and stealing confidential information.
EMC's lawsuit in the federal court in Massachusetts alleges that 44 of its ex-sales representatives and other professionals who have joined Pure Storage since August 2011 have stolen confidential data.
On Tuesday, November 26, Pure Storage responded to EMC's charges with documents that deny the allegations. Moreover, Pure Storage has also filed counter-charges against its rival, saying that around a year ago, EMC crafitly obtained a Pure Storage range, absconded with the device to EMC offices and illegally tested the machine to obtain trade secrets of Pure Storage.
Pure Storage also claims that this is not the first time that EMC has stolen its technology. The company says that the stealing is a part of an institutional practices that EMC employs unlawfully to stay in the data storage market.
"We remain confident that Pure Storage will be fully exonerated. Pure has filed affirmative counterclaims against EMC, which are intended to shed light on their business tactics and recruiting practices, and set them in contrast to Pure's own. We are now in the process of reviewing the EMC patent claims, but as the first mover in all-flash arrays, we are very confident in the strength of our own IP portfolio," said Scott Dietzen, CEO of Pure Storage.
"Moreover, Pure Storage is sufficiently well capitalized (and we have our entire $150m recent round in the bank) to successfully defend ourselves, as well as to indemnify our customers and partners from any fall-out, no matter how unlikely," Dietzen added.
EMC has denied the charges. The fight goes on.
