Dispute between the company might not be resolved just yet

Nov 21, 2011 16:07 GMT  ·  By

Seagate and Western Digital have been in arbitration over allegations of use of trade secrets and misappropriation of confidential information, but their quarrel may finally be at an end.

Then again, maybe it isn't, since Western Digital can still challenge the decision of the arbitrator who issued the 'award.'

Seagate's complaint is nothing if not vague, as no details were given on just what trade secrets were allegedly misused.

The entire arbitration is confidential, in fact, unlike all those patent lawsuits happening these days.

All that the succinct press release (read it here) actually stated was how much money Western Digital has to pay, along with the CEO's reaction to the decision.

Simply put, Seagate is supposed to get $525 million, or 390.18 million Euro.

“We do not believe there is any basis in law or fact for the damage award of the arbitrator,” said John Coyne, president and chief executive officer.

“We believe the company acted properly at all times and we will vigorously challenge the award. This does not affect our ability to conduct our operations, to complete the recovery and recommencement of our Thailand operations or, subject to obtaining the required regulatory approvals, to consummate our planned acquisition of Hitachi GST.”

It is a sad thing that legal confrontations are so very common on the IT industry, and basically every other part of the global economy.

Since Western Digital and Seagate have 40% and 33% of the total hard disk drive market (crippled as it is), one might say it was inevitable that they would experience some friction.

Then again, if there is a silver lining here it is that the dispute is not nearly as heated as the one that Samsung and Apple are involved in, over the Galaxy tab 10.1 tablet (Apple even wants Samsung's call center records, among other things).