By Joseph Ax
NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - Airvana Network SolutionsInc, a Massachusetts broadband network company, has won apreliminary injunction against Ericsson in atrade-secrets lawsuit that seeks more than $330 million from theSwedish telecommunications network equipment maker.
State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kapnick in Manhattan ruled that Airvana had shown it was likely to succeed on themerits of its lawsuit and would suffer irreparable harm if theinjunction were not granted.
Under the injunction, which was issued on Tuesday, Ericssoncannot use certain hardware unless it employs software developedby Airvana.
Airvana filed the lawsuit last year, claiming Ericsson stoleits trade secrets and attempted to drive it out of business.
Kathy Egan, an Ericsson spokeswoman, said the company is "inthe process of reviewing the court's decision" but that itgenerally does not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit alleged that Ericsson secretly worked with aKorean 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.
Airvana, founded in 2000 by former Motorola Inc executives,accused Ericsson of attempting to replace Airvana's design witha so-called "in-house" product that is actually based onAirvana's work.
Ericsson had argued in court that it had modified Airvana'sdesigns to the point where the new hardware was no longer "basedon" Airvana's design, according to the judge's decision.
But Kapnick disagreed, concluding that the hardware inquestion was based on Airvana's work.
Peter MacDonald, a lawyer for Airvana, said the company was"gratified" by the ruling, which he said recognized thatEricsson had violated its contractual obligations.
Airvana's chief executive said last year that the $330million it is seeking in damages is based on years of discountsthat the company had given Ericsson.
The case is Airvana Network Solutions Inc v. Ericsson Inc etal, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No.650360/2012.