CA Slaps IBM With Copyright Lawsuit

In a seven-page complaint filed last month in U.S. District Court in New York, CA said IBM illegally distributed its SeOS access control software through IBM Global Services. CA ships SeOS through its own eTrust line, which includes eTrust Access Control.

"On countless occasions, IBM has knowingly and willfully infringed upon CA's copyrights in the various releases of SeOS software as they were made available, by copying, using and distributing it without authorization," CA wrote in the complaint.

"IBM wrongfully distributed the SeOS software to unknown third parties and used the SeOS software in a service bureau arrangement by permitting its Global Services division, which typically provides software services to customers without licenses, to use, copy and distribute the SeOS software to third parties," CA said.

Both companies declined to comment on the suit.

CA has been putting elbow grease behind its eTrust effort, said some security solution providers.

"ETrust might not be the best of breed in every category but . . . the sum of its parts are a lot stronger than individual [parts working on their own," said Michelle Drolet, CEO of Conquest, a security solution provider in Holliston, Mass. "When we're implementing a total security solution, eTrust is perfect. They [CA are putting a lot of effort behind it."

CA acquired SeOS in its 1999 buyout of Platinum Technology and Platinum's Israeli subsidiary, Memco Software.

The federal lawsuit is a new broadside in the long-simmering rivalry between CA and IBM in systems management software.

In its complaint, CA acknowledged it has a licensing agreement for SeOS with IBM unit Tivoli Systems, one of CA's top rivals in the systems management software arena.

In a QandA pertaining to Tivoli security software on IBM's Web site, the company acknowledged the licensing relationship.

"Tivoli has entered into a technology acquisition agreement with Memco, whereby Tivoli will use the SeOS function in Tivoli Security Manager," according to the Web site. "The SeOS code [also shipped by CA in eTrust Access Control is used to provide a Unix platform security engine. . . . This enables Tivoli to provide an enhanced security environment for Unix and to manage Unix versions from multiple vendors in a consistent manner and within a role-based administration environment."

In its complaint, CA said the Tivoli-CA license for SeOS is now the subject of arbitration, but the company did not provide details.