Storage vendor Nexsan is suing EMC over the alleged infringement of its Unity trademark.
In a case filed in the state of Massachusetts last week, Nexsan claimed that its competitor has threatened the company with legal action unless Nexsan give up the trademark.
According to The Register, a Nexsan claimed that EMC demanded it cease “all use of its Unity trademark and expressly abandon its trademark applications containing the Unity mark; threatened litigation against Nexsan; and asserted that Nexsan’s provision of goods and services under its Unity mark would constitute trademark infringement.
Nexsan added that the statements threaten “immediate injury” to the company.
EMC claimed it began using Unity more than a year ago during customer presentations. The Boston Business Journal reports that EMC claims to have filed trademark applications in March of 2015.
Nexsan, meanwhile, had filed the trademark application on March 22, 2016 and is claiming that its much larger competitor filed more than a month later.
Nexsan is demanding a jury trial to validate its trademark claim and plans to argue that presentations do not equate prior use.
The Register reports that Nexsan launched its Unity storage line back in April 26, 2016. EMC followed by renaming its VNX/VNXe portfolio on May 2, 2016.
This is not EMC’s first litigation this year. In a court case that wrapped up in March, the storage giant won one of five patent infringement claims made against Pure Storage in a jury trial. Mountain View, CA-based Pure is considering an appeal.
Nexsan is a Minnesota-based subsidiary of Imation Corp. and has annual sales of around $50 million. Meanwhile, EMC, to be acquired and integrated by Dell by October 16 this year, reached revenues of $25 billion in 2015.
