Overland Storage Shares Rise on Initial ITC Ruling vs Dell, IBM

   By Chelsea Stevenson 
 

Overland Storage Inc. (OVRL) said the U.S. International Trade Commission found products made by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and Dell Inc. (DELL) infringe one of its patents for partitioning media elements.

Shares of Overland, which offers data-protection systems, climbed 11% to $2.26 in premarket trading. The stock is down 32% in the past 12 months.

In its initial determination, the ITC said two IBM and two Dell tape libraries were found to infringe all of Overland's claims. The patent in question relates to automated data storage and retrieval methods for allowing two computers to store and retrieve data without interfering with one another.

The patent investigation took 21 months. Overland had filed patent-infringement lawsuits in a Southern California district court against seven companies, including IBM, Dell and Quantum Corp. (QTM). The company had said recent reports indicate the tape-storage market will surpass $12 billion between 2005 and 2015, and the seven companies represent about 40% of the market.

Overland said it has petitioned the full commission for a review of some of the initial determination's findings. If the commission decides to review the matter, it is expected to issue its decision in a final determination by Oct. 22. Upon completion of the ITC case, Overland plans to pursue monetary damages against BDT, the manufacturer of the tapes.

Overland provides services for primary, nearline, offline and cloud data storage. The company reported in May a wider loss and lower year-over-year revenue for its fiscal third quarter, though it posted higher sales sequentially for the first time in five years.

Write to Chelsea Stevenson at [e-mail]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires