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Stacker Note                                       Stacker Note
                      Press Release
StacFax 1111
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The following press release was issued on February 23, 1994.

Stac wins software patent infringement  lawsuit against
Microsoft; jury awards $120 million in damages to Stac

   LOS ANGELES--Feb. 23, 1994-- Stac Electronics(NASDAQ:STAC), a
leading supplier of data compression products for  doubling the
storage capacity of personal computers, announced  Wednesday that
it has won its patent infringement lawsuit against  Microsoft
Corp. of Redmond, Wash.
   The jury awarded Stac $120 million in compensatory damages
forMicrosoft's past infringement.  The jury also found in favor
of Stac on Microsoft's counterclaims of patent infringement and
breach of contract. Judge Rafeedie had earlier ruled in Stac's
favor on  Microsoft's counterclaim of fraud.
   In the first patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft to
ever  reach trial, the jury unanimously found that Microsoft
infringed two of  Stac's patents, U.S. Patent No. 5,016,009 "Data
Compression Apparatus  and Method," and No. 4,701,745 "Data
Compression System," in the DoubleSpace disk compression utility
included in its MS-DOS version 6 operating system for IBM
compatible personal computers.
   The company intends to file a motion with the Court asking for
a permanent injunction enjoining Microsoft from shipping MS-DOS 6
with DoubleSpace and from infringing upon Stac's patented data
compression technology in any other manner.
   "This is a landmark decision with respect to software patents.
We are pleased the jury has found that our patents are valid and
enforceable and that Microsoft's MS-DOS 6 product infringes,"
said  Gary Clow, chairman and chief executive officer of Stac
Electronics.
   "However, we are concerned that the jury has found that
Microsoft  can protect undocumented calls as trade secrets.  Both
of these  decisions will have a profound effect on how companies,
both large and small, compete in the software industry."
   The jury found in Microsoft's favor on only one of Microsoft's
seven counterclaims.  Microsoft was awarded approximately $13.6
million  in damages for misappropriation of trade secrets.  The
counterclaim  stemmed from Stac's attempts to make Stacker 3.1
compatible with an  undocumented data compression interface in MS-
DOS 6.
   The trial, which lasted for four weeks, followed by six days
of  jury deliberations, was the result of a patent infringement
suit  brought by Stac against Microsoft on Jan. 25, 1993.
   Stac Electronics is a leading supplier of high-performance
data compression products for personal computers.  Implemented in
software and silicon, Stac's products are sold direct from the
company and  through retail and OEM sales distribution channels
worldwide.
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copyright 1994 Stac Electronics