[link|http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003003687_websymantec18.html|Seattle Times] (via /.):

Symantec filed a lawsuit in Seattle today alleging Microsoft committed a host of business misdeeds, including misappropriating trade secrets and violating a contract that covered code used in part of the coming Windows Vista operating system.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, relates to a contract between Microsoft and Veritas, which merged into Symantec last year, dating to 1996.

Symantec alleges that "Microsoft has deliberately and surreptitiously misappropriated Symantec's valuable data-storage technologies, misled and thereby convinced the United States government to issue patents to Microsoft based on technologies invented by Symantec, attempted unsuccessfully to persuade Symantec to forgive Microsoft' s misdeeds under the guise of expanding a business relationship, and ultimately built portions of its next generation operating system on this house of cards."

Speculation abounds on what this means for Vista.

Cheers,
Scott.