Mobile phone developer expects hearings in Microsoft suit within a month

Computerworld - British mobile phone developer Sendo Ltd. said it expects hearings to start at the end of January or early February in its lawsuit accusing Microsoft Corp. of using false promises of partnerships to gain access to Sendo's mobile phone expertise.
The suit was filed in federal court for the Eastern District of Texas, according to Marljke van Hooren, a spokeswoman for Birmingham, U.K.-based Sendo. The U.S. division of Sendo is based in Irving, Texas.
Sendo formed a partnership with Microsoft in October 1999 to help develop e-mail- and Internet-enabled mobile telephone handsets based on the Microsoft operating system code-named Stinger for use by cellular carriers worldwide. That relationship dissolved shortly after London-based Orange SA introduced in October of this year a mobile phone manufactured by High Tech Computer Co. in Taiwan that's based on Microsoft's Smartphone software (see story), instead of Sendo's Z100 mobile phone.
In its suit, Sendo is alleging that Microsoft developed a "secret plan" to "plunder" Sendo's intellectual property, proprietary hardware expertise and trade secrets and transfer them to low-cost original equipment manufacturers such as High Tech.
The complaint also alleged that Microsoft used Sendo's relationships with carriers such as Orange to establish its own contractual relationships with mobile carriers. Van Hooren said that Sendo is "looking into the legal implications" of the Orange/Microsoft relationship, but she declined to provide further details. She added that Sendo has discussed selling the Z100 with Orange.
Microsoft spokesman Jon Murchinson declined to comment on the Sendo lawsuit because the company was still reviewing the filing. Orange spokeswoman Sally Quigg said her company views the lawsuit as a matter between Sendo and Microsoft.
Sendo, in its complaint, is charging that after gaining access to Sendo's intellectual property and hardware, Microsoft drove "Sendo to the brink of bankruptcy." Sendo said that Microsoft was late in delivering software and was unresponsive to Sendo's requests to fix software bugs and make changes through the spring of this year. Microsoft also failed to provide $14 million in financing, and Sendo had problems raising funds from outside sources, the complaint said.
The suit also says that under their agreement, if Sendo filed for bankruptcy, Microsoft would be allowed to obtain a royalty-free license to use the intellectual property Sendo had developed for its Z100 Smartphone.
Sendo said that around October, Marc Brown, who was a director of Microsoft's corporate development and strategy group and a Sendo board member, suggested that the company consider filing for bankruptcy. On Oct. 28, Sendo said Brown resigned from its board,