NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - Massachusetts broadbandnetwork company Airvana Network Solutions Inc has won apreliminary injunction against Ericsson barring theSwedish telecommunications network equipment maker from usingsome hardware unless it employs Airvana software.
Airvana sued Ericsson last year for more than $330 million,claiming Ericsson stole Airvana's trade secrets and attempted todrive it out of business.
State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kapnick in Manhattanissued the injunction on Tuesday, ruling that Airvana had shownit was likely to succeed on the merits of its lawsuit and wouldsuffer irreparable harm if the injunction were not granted.
The lawsuit claimed that Ericsson secretly worked with aSouth Korean partner to create "knock-off" hardware based ontechnology developed by Airvana that could then be sold towireless carriers Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp.Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon CommunicationsInc and Vodafone Group Plc.